






m^s:-^^-^ 









I ' 












THE 



AMERICAN IN EGYPT, 



WITH 



RAMBLES THROUGH ARABIA PETRiEA 



AND 



THE HOLY LAND, 



DURING 



THE YEARS 1839 AND 1840. 

BY JAMES EWINg'^COOLEY, 




ILLVSTRATEC WITH NUMEROUS STEEL ENGKAVINQS : ALSO WITH DESIGNS 
AND ETCHINGS BV JOHNSTON. 



NEW YORK: 

D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 200 BROADWAY 

PHILADELPHIA: 

GEORGE S. APPLETON, J 48 CHESTNUT ST. 




/S^ 



ENTtRED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842i 

By D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. 



TO THE 

HON. LEWIS CASS, 

ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY 

OF THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

NEAR THE COURT OF FRANCE, 

WHOSE SOCIAL VIRTUES AND LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, WHOSE PATRIOTISM 
IN THE FIELD AND ABILITIES IN THE CABINET, HAVE RENDERED HIM, 
BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD, CONSPICUOUS AMONG THE ILLUS- 
TRIOUS MEN OF THE AGE, AND WORTHY THE CONFIDENCE 
AND HIGHEST HONOURS OF HIS COUNTRY, 

THESE PAGES 
ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, BY 

The Author. 



PREFACE. 

In presenting to his countrymen these random and 
famiUar sketches of the manners, customs, and cha- 
racter of the East, the author is aware that the field 
of his observation has already been occupied by nu- 
merous modern and ancient travellers, more capable 
perhaps than himself of doing justice to the subject. 
But as the plan of the present work differs, in almost 
every respect, from those already in print, it may 
not be unacceptable to the public. 

In every thing relating to the affairs and condition 
of the interesting countries which the author has 
traversed, he has endeavoured to arrive at just and 
true^conclusions. Where he has commended, he 
has done so in all sincerity ; and where it was his 
duty to adopt an opposite course, he has not allowed 
himself to "set down aught in malice." 

The work, as it now appears, is a mere compila- 
tion from the notes taken on the spots to which they 
refer, during the author's wanderings in the Old 



b PREFACE. 

World ; and tliej are now submitted to the reader 
in the hope that, if they fail to instruct, they may 
at least serve to while away a few leisure hours 
pleasantly. 

An effort has been made to blend with the inci- 
dents of the author's wanderings an outline account 
of the existing peculiarities of the East, and to 
compare, in some slight degree, the manners, cus- 
toms, oppressions, degradation, and barbarism of the 
modern orientals with the condition of their more 
enlightened and more fortunate ancestors, when 
Egypt was the seat of learning, luxury, and power; 
when Judea was a "goodly land, flowing with milk 
and honey;" and when "the desert blossomed Hke 
the rose." 

The wild Indian of the West clings to his native 
woods ; the wandering Arab roams lord of his cheer- 
less sands ; and civilized man, ruined in fortune and 
character, often shelters himself from the merited 
blasts of contempt at home, among the barbarous 
people of the East. Consequently, what is called in 
Turkey " Frank society'' is unavoidably composed, to 
a great extent, of renegades from civilized countries. 
It is not surprising, therefore, that the voyageur upon 
the Nile and the Levant is occasionally thrown in 
juxtaposition with individuals, exhibiting a fair and 
courteous exterior, who, in all their proffered atten- 



PREFACE. / 

tion to, and intercourse with, strangers, are actuated 
by the most unworthy motives, and prompted by the 
most insidious and base designs. 

In portraying some specimens of individual cha- 
racter as exhibited in Eastern society, and in drawing 
occasionally upon the peculiarities and eccentricities 
of European and other travellers that the author has 
met by the way, he has, for reasons most obvious to 
the reader, substituted fictitious for real names, while 
he has endeavoured to exhibit the characters them- 
selves as " true to the life" as circumstances would 
permit. 

In the brief descriptions of some of the wonderful 
remains of antiquity still visible in the valley of 
Egypt, in the mountains of Petra, and in the Holy 
Land, an effort has been made rather to impress the 
reader with a general idea of their grandeur and 
extent, than to embarrass him with technical pecu- 
liarity or architectural detail. 

New YorJc, June, 18i2, 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

PAQB 

Voyage from Athens to Alexandria. — The Island of Syra. — His 
Reverence the Bishop. — ^Views of Naxos, Paros, Candia, and 
the Mountains of Judea 1 

CHAPTER H. 

First glimpse of Alexandria. — ^View by Moonlight. — Our Arrival. 
— Turkish and Egyptian Fleets. — Imaginary Plagues of Egypt. 
— Process of landing, and the Manner of taking care of the 
Baggage. — The Inhabitants; their Mode of Conveyance. — Plan 
of keeping off Intruders, as practised in the East. — Ladies in > 
Masks, and Peasants in Rags. — Novel Mode of sweeping the 
Streets. — The use of Camels and Donkeys. — Water-carriers and 
City-criers. — First Impressions. 8 

CHAPTER III. 

The prmcipal Hotel in Alexandria. — ^Rain and Sunshine. — ^A Ride 
before Dinner. — Invitation to dine with Mr. and Mrs. Firkins. — 
Introduction to the Wrinklebottoms, Messrs. O'Statten, Sneeze- 
biter, O'Screensbury, and other distinguished Personages. — Ge- 
nealogy of the Humbug Family. — ^An Evening Circle. — ^A Snake 
Story. — An agreeable Surprise. 27 

CHAPTER rV. 
Some of the Plagues of Egypt, and a touch of the Night-mare. — 
Captain Underdone, and his taste for Snakes, Lizards, Scorpions, 
and otherReptiles.— House-snakes.— Snake-charmers and Snake- 
eaters of the East. — Sacred Reptiles of Egypt. — Opinions of Di- 
odorus, Plutarch, Wilkinson, and Champollion. — Asp-formed 
Crowns of the ancient Kings and Queens of Egypt. — Asp-headed 

B 



CONTENTS. 

Deities. — The Statues of Isis crowned with Asps. — Dancing- 
Snakes of India. — Probable Cause of Cleopatra's Choice to die 
by the venomous Sting of the Asp. 40 

CHAPTER V. 
A new Acquaintance. — Introduction to Nebby Daood. — Caution 
against making acquaintance with the Humbug Family in 
Egypt. — Mrs. Firkins and the Out-runners of the East. — A Ride 
to the Baths of Cleopatra and the Catacombs. — An Egyptian 
Governor and his Footmen. — Almost a Disaster. — The Store- 
houses of the Pacha. — Arabs at Dinner. — Cause of the Egyptian 
Ophthalmia. — Manner of Eating in the East. — Deference ob-- 
served toward the Master of the House. — Turkish Manner of 
Carving. — Mode of Cooking in Egypt. — Onions and Garlic. — 
Marks of Civility shown to Guests. — Beverage of the Egyp- 
tians. — Water of the Nile. — Contributions of the Pacha to the 
Grand Sultan of Turkey. — Water-carriers at the Tombs of the 
Saints. — Peasant-women and their Trinkets. — Wind-mills, a^id 
the way the Arabs carry Corn to Mill. — Women cleaning the 
Streets with their Hands. — Dog Population, and their Manners 
and Customs. 58 

CHAPTER VI. 
Dog-matical Chapter. — Dog Population of Turkey. — Condition of 
the Dogs not likely to be improved by the Interference of the 
" Great Powers." — Dog Funeral. — Dogs accounted among the 
Sacred Animals of Ancient Egypt. — " Every Dog has his day." 
— Heads and Bodies shaved at the Death of a Dog. — Civil War 
on account of the Sacred Dogs of Egj^pt. — Condition of Ancient 
and Modern Dogs contrasted. — Byron's Dog, and the Dog of 
Frederick the Great. — Declining Condition of the Dogs of Egypt 
since the Persian Conquest. — Sacred Ox Apis killed, and his 
Blood given to the Dogs. — Arabs' Houses built of the Mud gath- 
ered from the Streets. — Domestic Felicity. — An Arab whipping 
his Wife. — How to make an Impression in Egypt. — ^Advice of 
the American Consul. — Description of the Catacombs, and the 
Baths of Cleopatra. 77 

• CHAPTER VII. 

Incidental Story of Nebby Daood, an eccentric Backwoodsman of 
the United States, travelling in Egypt. — His Reserve, and his 
Impressions of Mankind.— The Object of Nebby's Wanderings. 



CONTENTS. xi 

PA.QE. 

— His Desire f* Foreign Travel. — Scenes of his Youth. — Neb- 
by's Passion for Books and Thirst for Knowledge. — "■ Town Li- 
brary Association." — Difficulties encountered, and final Success. 
— Leaves his Father's House and goes to New York. — Journey, 
and Arrival in the City. — Neb by's Impressions. — Desolation of 
his Feelings. — Nebby among'the Speculators of Wall-street.— 
Halts between two Opinions. — Slips through the Fingers of the 
Speculators, with the Loss of their Friendship. — Nebby's Igno- 
rance of the World. — Meets with a Disaster and breaks his Leg. 
— His Recovery, and Departure for England 91 

CHAPTER Vni. 
Story of Nebby Daood continued. — Nebby in England. — His Visits 
to Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and London.— His first Impressions 
of the British Metropolis, and his Manner of getting into the 
House of Parliament. — His Visit to Westminster Abbey. — His 
Reception at the Mansion of a Distinguished American in Lon- 
don. — His Opinion of the two Houses of Parliament. — His Visit 
to France, and Wanderings to Switzerland. — His Journey across 
the Alps into Italy. — His Visit to Genoa, Venice, Florence, Rome, 
Naples, and the long-buried Ciiies of the Plains. — His Reflec- 
tions among the Ruins of Pajstum. — His Visit to Sicily ; and 
Voyage to Greece. 107 

CHAPTER IX. 
Nebby Daood among the Ruins of Athens. — He visits Esculapius' 
Grove ; Argos, Mycenae, Tyrrins, Corinth, the Nemean Plains, 
Mouni Parnassus, Delphi, the Castalian Spring, the Waters of 
Lethe, the Plains of Marathon, the Straits of Thermopylae, 
Thebes, Plataea, Ancient Crete, Egypt, and Syria. — His Disap- 
pearance, and probable Death. . . . . . . 123 

CHAPTER X. 

Contemplated Visit to Upper Egypt. — Selim, the Arabian Drago- 
man. — His Qualifications, and a Description of his Person. — An 
Interview with the Consular Agent of the United States. — Flat- 
tering Expectations. — Important Standing ot the Consul. — ^Ride 
and Reflections among the Tombs. — The Wrinklebottoms at 
Pompey's Pillar. — Scene in the Graveyard at Alexandria. — ^Val- 
orous Exploits of the Dragoman with Beggars. — Admiration and 
Chagrhi of the Wrinklebottoms. — Lord Sweepstakes and Sir 
Jeffrey Windfall.— Dinner on the Summit of Pompey's Pillar.— 



XU CONTENTS. 

Affront to the Pacha.— Imagined Insult to the British Flag. — 
Virtuous Indignation of the Wrinklebottoms.— The Pacha's 
Decree 132 

CHAPTER XL 

Pompey's Pillar. — " J. S. Buckingham, ex-Member of Parliament." 
— His Account of Pompey's Pillar and Cleopatra's Needles. — 
"Wilkinson's Opinion and Conjecture of their Origin. — Reign of 
Thothmes III., King of Egypt. — Disinclination of Monarchs to 
record their own Disasters.— Gold Bracelet of Thothmes III. — 
General Inclination of all Nations for Plunder and Spoil. . 148 

CHAPTER XII. 

" Plagues of Egypt." — An Evening with Mr. Firkins. — His Opin- 
ion of Mehemet Ali and the Diplomacy of the " Great Powers." 
— Jealousy of the Allies, and Mehemet All's Check upon their 
Diplomatic Intrigues. — Subtlety of the Pacha, and the Promises 
of France. — The Pacha's Government, and its Effects upon the 
People .164 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Further Conversation with Mr, Firkins. — Inhabitants, Revenue, 
and Education of Egypt. — The Army and Military Conscriptions. 
— Influence and Power of Mehemet Ali. — Revolting Expedients 
of Mothers to exempt their Sons from Service in the Army. — 
Their cruel Practices rendered unavailing. — One-eyed Regiment. 
— ^Pernicious Effects of Climate upon the Eye. — Caution to Stran- 
gers. — Franks mistaken for Conjurers and Physicians. — Emi- 
nence and Skill of the Ancient Physicians of Egypt. — Fatal Ex- 
periments punished by Death. — Ancient Quacks. . . . 172 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Unpleasant News. — Disappointment. — ^Reflections. — Unpropitious 
Visit. — Mutual Surprise. — "Sudden, Serious Illness" of a Con- 
sul not so Serious as was apprehended. — Embarrassing Inter- 
view. — Animated Conversation of Mr. Firkins and Mr. O'S fatten 
abruptly terminated. — Brilliant Party of Pleasure. — Mr. Firkins 
in a Rage. — Ride to the Palace of Mehemet Ali. — AVay to make 
an Impression. — ^Palace and Guards of the Pacha. — OflBcers of 
State. — Dress and Address of Mehemet All. ... 185 



CONTENTS. ^" 

PAGE. 

CHAPTER XV. 
Return from the Palace. — Mr. Firkins a Lion among the Rabble. — 
Scene in ihe Bazar of Alexandria. — Turkish and Egyptian Mer- 
chants. — Mode of Dealing. — Shopping in Turkey a troublesome 
Business. — Tricks upon Strangers. — Funeral Probession. . 204 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Modern and Ancient Alexandria. — Comprehensive Views of its 
Founder. — Well-chosen Site for a Great Commercial City. — 
Canal, connecting the Nile with the Mediterranean. — Reservoirs 
of Alexandria. — Privileges enjoyed by the Greeks in Egypt un- 
der the Native Kings. — Cordial Reception of Alexander and his 
Army by the Egyptians. — Wise and conciliatory Administration 
of the early Ptolemies.— Extent and Splendour of Ancient Alexan- 
dria. — Its Capture by the Saracens. — Wise and humane Policy 
of Amrou, the Arab Conqueror. — His Account of the Conquest. 
— Policy of Mehemet Ali and the Black League. — Tomb of 
Alexander 219 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Preparations to depart. — Exchange of Adieus. — Aflfecting Scene. 
— Weeping and Laughter. — Heavy News. — Change of Circum- 
stances and Dress. — Quizzing-glasses and Financial Prospects. — 
" Hot Mixture," and Hunt for the Door-latch. . . . .231 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

An Early Start. — Inconveniences of Indecision. — Hint to Ladies 
travelling in the East. — Effects of Trade. — Cruel Suspension. — 
Passage on the Mahmoudieh Canal. — Danger, Difficulty, and 
Disaster. — Scenes on the Canal. — Camels of the Pacha. — Cru- 
elty to Horses. — Egyptian Darkness. 241 

CHAPTER XIX. 

An Agreeable Acquaintance. — Enlightened Policy of Mehemet 
Ali exemplified. — Taxation, Soil, and Cultivation in the Delta. 
— ^Unexpected Authority. — Wisdom, Justice, and Mercy go hand 
in hand. — Tax-gathering, Retribution, and Butchery. . . 251 

CHAPTER XX. 
Despotism and Degradation. — ^Poverty preferable to Wealth. — Jus- 
tice and Humanity rewarded; — "Reigning by Divine Right." — 
Advantages of Commercial Intercourse to Civilization. — Cheer- 



xiv CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

fulness and Labour. — Multiplicity of Wives offers no Impedi- 
ment to Prosperity in Egypt. — Mahmoudieh Canal. — Dikes and 
Canals of Egypt. . . 258 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Introductory Letters from Mr. Firkins. — New Acquaintance. — ^In- 
convenient Delay. — Necessity strengtliens Confidence. — Flatter- 
ing Prospects not likely to be realized. — Disappointments not 
always conducive to Humility. — Nile-boat and Fellow-passen- 
ger. — Unsatisfactory Investigation.— Unpleasant Dilemma.— Sai- 
lor's Importunity rejected. — Gloomy Prospect. — Arab Captain. 
— Departure. . * 269 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Commencement of the Voyage on the Nile. — Unpleasant Compa- 
ny. — High Wages and Sailors' Dress. — Nile-boats and their 
Rigging. — Fertility of the Delta. — Amrou's Description of Egypt. 
— ^Rude Manner of cultivating the Soil. — Scenery on the Nile. — 
Real "Plagues of Egypt." — Perplexing state of Affairs. — Coun- 
cil of War. — Commencement of Hostilities. — Pitched Battle 
with the Bugs. — ^Unsatisfactory Result. ..... 280 

CHAPTER XXIIL 

Recommencement of Hostilities. — Selim supplanted in Command 
by the Cook. — Weapons and Mode of Attack. — Sanguinary En- 
gagement with the Bugs. — Annihilation of our Assailants. — Re- 
newed Demonstrations of War. — Another Battle. — ^Retreat from 
theField.— "Military Glory."— Repose. . . . .297 

CHAPTER XXrV^. 

Climate, and Kamsin Winds of Egypt. — ^Effects of Habit.— Mode 
of sailing on the Nile. — ^Rambles on Shore. — Shyness of the 
Egyptians. — ^Volunteers. — Military Conscription. — Press-gang. 
— Appropriation of the Spoils. — Disadvantages of being mis- 
taken. — Effects of Tyranny and Oppression. — Injustice of Tax- 
gatherers. — Arab Dwellings. — Story of an aged Egyptian. . 306 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Continuation of the Voyage. — Bounties of Nature. — Pollutions of 
Man. — Consolation drawn from the Contemplation of Misery. — 
Administration of the Law. — Exciting Incident. — First Glimpse 
of the Pyramids. — Termination of the Voyage. , . 319 



CONTENTS. xv 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



Palace and Gardens of Mehemet Ali. — Sand-gale. — Arrival at 
Cairo. — First Impressioas. — The Hotel and " mine Host." — 
Ride to the Citadel. — Mosque of Sultan Hassan. — Palace of the 
Citadel. — Joseph's Well. — Brilliant Circle. — Shaving Heads. — 
Sprig of Nobility. — A Member of Parliament. — "A two-Bottle 
Man."— Gloomy Prospect.— Dinner-table Chat. . . .327 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Rimtapers, Wrinklebottoms, and Cats. — Moslem Bequest. — Sa- 
cred Animals of Egypt. — Feast of Mr. Firkins. — Disaster and 
Fright. — Theatrical Novelty, and Fashionable Squeeze. . . 350 

CHAPTER XXVni. 

Interview with the Consul at Cairo. — Description of his Audience- 
hall. — Incidenial Attack. — Egyptian Janizary. — Bridal Proces- 
sion.— -Marriage Contracts. — Match-making Brokers. — Bridal 
Dowries. — Law respecting Matrimony. — Wives and Concubines. 
— Law of Divorce. — Blessings of Fruitfulness, and Curse of Bar- 
renness. — ^Ancient Marriage Customs. — Cheap Mode of raising 
Children 364 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Politeness and Accomplishments of Dr. O'Squeebey. — Dissection of 
a Mummy. — Present for the Ladies. — Untoward Accident. — 
Painful Situation of the Wrinklebottoms. — Sir Danbury Rimta- 
per sensibly touched. — Violators of the Tombs. — Their Condem- 
nation. — Description of the Egyptian Mode of Embalming.— 
Veneration of the Ancients for the Dead. — Invocation for the 
Rites of Burial 385 

CHAPTER XXX. 
Jews in the Metropolis of Egypt. — Natural Hatred of Jews and 
Moslems. — Mode of executing Jews. — Slave-market of Cairo. — 
Tombs of the Memlooks. — Memlook Kings. — Their Origin, 
Power, and Destruction. — Circassian Slaves. — Parents sell their 
own Children 402 

CHAPTER XXXL 
Visit from Monsieur le " Baron Pompolino." — Cemetery of Cairo. 
— Tomb of Mehemet Ali. — Ancient Sepulchres. — ^Excursion to 



XVI CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

the Petrified Forest. — ^Brilliant Cavalcade. — Disconcerted Un- 
derstanding 416 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
Expedition of Discovery among the Harems. — Mysteries and Mise- 
ries of a Turkish Bath. — Propensity of Egyptian Ladies for its 
Pleasures. — Baths of the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Ro- 
mans ; and of the Scythians and Finlanders 425 

CHAPTER XXXm. 
Visit to the Harems. — Bathing and Dancing. — Importance of the 
Veil. — Ladies of the " Higher Circles." — Harems of the Patri- 
archs. — Seraglio of the Sultan, and his hundred Wives. — Harem 
of Mehemet Ali, and its Dissolutian. — Banishment of Egyptian 
Prostitutes, and Effervescence of English Spleen. . . . 435 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
Religious Intolerance. — Apostacy of Women punished with Death. 
— Infidelity legally protected.^ — Penalty of Babbling and Back- 
biting. — State of Female Society. — Eftects of Public Opinion. — 
Fashion and Finery of the Old Egyptians. — Exalted Privilege 
of the Ancient Women of Egypt. — Novel Mode of punishing 
Delinquents 455 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Visit to Heliopolis, the On of the Scriptures. — The Obelisk. — 
Temple of the Sun. — Schools, Scholars, and Priests of Heliopo- 
lis. — The Phoenix. — Tree under v^rhich reposed the Holy Family. 
— " Mad-House." — Sir Danbury Rim taper and the Reverend Mr. 
Dunderblix 469 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 
Excursion to the Pyramids. — Friends by the Wayside. — ^Viewfrom 
the Summit of the Pyramid of Cheops. — Ancient Tombs. — 
"Scientific Antiquarians." — The Sphinx. — Interminable Pay- 
roll. — ^Brilliant Cavalcade 476 

CHAPTER XXXVIL 

The Nile, and its Annual Inundation. — Sacrifice and Festivals m 

honour of the God of the Nile. — Nileometers and Criers of the 

Nile. — Dikes and Canals. — The Nile diverted from its original 

Channel, and Memphis founded upon its Bed. — Apis, the Sacred 



CONTENTS. ^" 

PAQB 

Bull of Memphis. — Splendour of the Ancient City of Memphis. 

— Its Ruin, and the " Scientific Antiquarians." . . . 497 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Separation of Friends. — Flare-up, and Boat-hunting. — Order of 
the Pacha, and "Baron Pompolino." — Embarkation, Pyramids 
of Dashour, and a Wild-goose Chase. — An Evening Circle. — 
Dancers of Ancient and Modern Egypt. — Dance of Miriam, Da- 
vid, Hippoclides, Herodias, and the Daughters of Shiloh. . 516 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 
Sudden and pressing Demand. — Idiots and Lunatics regarded as 
Saints. — Female Devotion to the Holy Persons. — Description of 
the Crocodile and its Habits. — Worshipped as a Deity by the 
Ancients. — Ghenneh, its Manufactures, and His Excellency the 
Governor. — Rough Reception of the Rais. — Solicited to enter 
upon the Practice of Medicine. — A Mystery solved, and a rare 
Specimen of Smoking 528 

CHAPTER XL. 
Thebes. — Temples of Luqsor and Karnak. — ^Esneh and the Tem- 
ple of Latopolis. — An agreeable Meeting. — American, Scotch, 
and English Amalgamation. — Natives of Upper Egypt. — Quar- 
ries of Gebel Silsili. — Ruins of Kom Ombos. — Arrival at the 
Cataracts. — The American Consul. — Peter J. Scantletrash and 
his Servant Paul.— Elephantine.— Quarries of Syene. — E'Souan. 541 

CHAPTER XLL 
Excursion to the Island of Philae. — Singular Taste of Mr. Scantle- 
trash. — Temple of Isis. — Tomb of Osiris. — Philae consecrated 
to their Worship. — Novel Mode of navigating the Nile. — Cata- 
racts. — Apostacy of the Cook. — Serious Predicament, and over- 
whelming Effect of Egyptian Corn-Laws.— Departure from 
E'Souan.— Temple of Edfoo.— Tombs of El Kab. . . .558 

CHAPTER XLH. 
Palace-Temple of Remeses the Great. — His Conquests and Pro- 
geny. — Statue of Remeses the Great. — Vocal Memnon. — Shrine 
of Latona at Buios. — Ruined Temples of Medeenet Haboo. . 572 

CHAPTER XLIH. 
Excursioa to the " Tombs of the Kings." — Annoyance of the Relic- 
venders.— Indefatigable Arab and his Jar.— Tomb of Osirei, 



Xviii CONTENTS. 

~ PAOK. 

violated and robbed by Belzoai. — ^Belzoni's Dinner to his Eng- 
lish Friends in the Grave of Pharaoh. — Tomb of the Harper. — 
The oldest Tomb of the Kings. — Temple of Gournoo. — Moon- 
light View of Karnak 581 

CHAPTER XLIV. 
Temple of Dendera. — A Cook in Danger of being cooked. — Cap- 
ture of a Pelican. — Siout, and the " Beautiful, bright-eyed little 
Arab Girl." — Mr. Scantletrash and Paul. — His Excellency the 
Governor. — Ancient Tombs, Modern Cemetery, Fox-hunt, and 
Death of a Bat. — Ruins of Antinoe. — Tombs of Beni Hassan, 
and our last Interview with the Rimtapers 597 



THE 



AMERICAN IN EGYPT. 



CHAPTER I. 

Voyage from Athens to Alexandria. — The Island of Syr a. — 
His reverence the Bishop. — Views ofJYaxos, Paros, Candia, 
and the Mountains of Judea. 

In the last days of the year 1839, while England 
was enveloped in rain and fog, and a large portion 
of the United States shivered in snow, we were 
approaching the coast of Egypt, under a clear sky, 
warmed by a summer sun, and fanned by a soft and 
gentle breeze. 

In our passage down the Adriatic, we came near 
being cast away upon the rocks of Cephalonia. 
We had bad weather, and some of the severest 
gales that I have ever encountered at sea. Our 
boat was a miserable affair; the engine old and 
feeble ; and the captain — though sufficiently qualified 
to take charge of a piratical schooner, when the 

Vol. I.— 1 



^ HIS REVERENCE THE BISHOP. 

danger of the enterprise may sometimes render it 
necessary, to avoid being captm*ed, to dash the 
vessel upon the rocks and drown all hands — pos- 
sessed few of the requisite qualifications for the 
safe and satisfactory management of a Mediterranean 
steamer. He was a long, lank-sided creature, loosely 
built, with an Arabian face, and a careless, dare- 
danger sort of expression about the eyes. He was 
a native of Italy, and received a part of his educa- 
tion among the Greek pirates during the late rebellion 
in Greece against the Turks. 

Happily, at last, we fell into other hands, and 
stood upon one of the finest boats that ever floated 
in the Levant. It was a French war-steamer, with 
ample and sumptuous accommodations, and com- 
manded by as brave a man as ever trod a plank, who 
possessed all that grace and suavity of manners pe- 
culiar to his countrymen previous to the revolution. 
There were a number of passengers on board from 
Athens down to the island of Syra, including the 
American Consul, several Greek and Armenian mer- 
chants from Constantinople and Smyrna, Jews from 
Damascus, and the bishop of Syra. 

The last-mentioned very reverend gentleman came 
on board in great pomp, escorted by half a score of 
priests. He talked much ; evidently thought little ; 
ate and drank like a lord, and afterward smoked 
himself to sleep. When we anchored in the bay of 
Syra the next morning, he came on deck with his 
capacious black cloak gracefully flowing about him, 
his cocked hat and breeches in perfect order, a 



NEGLECTING THE STEWARD. 



large gold cross on his breast, attached to a red silk 
cord that passed round his neck, terminating in a 
large clerical tassel, of the same colour, which hung 
down his back. Thus richly decorated, his reve- 
rence, with a firm step, and an air of much self- 
complacency, was about to quit the ship without 
taking that kind of leave of the honest steward 
which is usual in cases of value received. 

The bishop was well enough provided with bene- 
dictions; and, among the faithful, he was probably no 
niggard in his dealings in that kind of ware. But the 
French cook, who had brought the perfection of his 
skill in the culinary art to its highest tension, in his 
endeavours to please the taste and satisfy the volup- 
tuous appetite of the bishop, no doubt thought, that 
however efficacious and precious his blessings might 
be in certain cases, yet, like the fine figure of Sterne's 
French servant Lafleur, " they did not cost his reve- 
rence one sou," nor could he turn them to any ac- 
count in the market, in exchange for the meats and 
other edibles which he had rather lavishly devoured 
during the voyage. In short, whatever may have 
been the reflections of the bishop upon the occasion, 
the cook came to the determination to make a 
formal demand of what he considered not only a 
just debt, but a debt of honour. Thus resolved, cap 
in hand, he approached this high dignitary of the 
church, and presented his bill for liquidation. This 
produced a scene of consternation and no little ruf- 
fling among the black robes, which resulted in the 
bishop's sitting down to a second breakfast ; after 



4 THE ISLAND OF SYRA. 

which he paid the cook hke a man, and went on 
shore hke a hero. 

The bishop disposed of, and landed without acci- 
dent, we were also tempted to go on shore. Ascer- 
taining that we were not to proceed on the voyage 
to Alexandria that day, we promised om*selves no 
little pleasure in rambling over the town of Syra; 
which, from the deck of the steamer, appeared ex- 
ceedingly picturesque and beautiful. 

The town is built in an aniphitheatrical form, upon 
a cluster of hills, rising by a gentle acclivity from the 
water's edge to a considerable height. The houses 
are painted white, and appear neat and cheerful when 
viewed from the sea, though nothing can exceed the 
general filthiness that pervades most of them, which 
becomes disgustingly apparent when more closely 
inspected. The bishop's house, an elegant and ex- 
tensive building, stands upon the summit of a conical 
hill, rising beautifully in the rear, near the centre of 
the curve of hills on which the city is built, over- 
looking the town, and commanding a fine view of 
the sea and surrounding islands. 

Syra contains more than twenty thousand inhabit- 
ants, and is the largest commercial town of Greece. 
It has sprung up since the Greek revolution ; and, 
like all other towns of Greece, has an air of fresh- 
ness and activity, somewhat resembling the new 
towns in the western part of the United States. Its 
situation is central, and most of the steamers up and 
down the Mediterranean stop there for an exchange 
of passengers, and to replenish the stores for the re- 



THE ISLAND OF SYRA. O 

mainder of the voyage. It seems to be a point of 
collection and distribution, where passengers may 
embark for any part of the Mediterranean, and stands 
in about the same relation to the steam navigation of 
that sea, that Mechlin does to railway travelling 
in Belgium. Although the most important of all 
the Greek towns, it is so slightly fortified that it 
might be taken by a single ship of war. But 
should the bishop's residence be turned into a fort- 
ress, and properly mounted with guns, it might easily 
be made a much more strongly fortified place than 
St. Jean d'Acre ever was ; and it would be no more 
than the present unsettled state of the East demands 
for the protection of a commercial town of so much 
importance. Indeed, it is not improbable that the 
amount which has already been expended upon the 
bishop's residence, would have been nearly or 
quite sufficient to defray the expense of throwing 
up a very respectable fortress, and putting the town 
in a proper state of defence ; while his yearly revenue 
would be quite ample for the support of an efficient 
garrison. 

With all its commercial advantages, however, the 
attractions of its active and picturesquely-dressed 
population, and its beauty, when viewed at a dis- 
tance — an hour's threading of its narrow, dirty lanes 
(streets it has none) made us glad to return to our 
good steamer, quite satisfied that we could make our- 
selves much more comfortable and happy on ship- 
board than in the largest and most important town 
in all the kingdom of Greece. 



O NAXOS AND PAROS. 

After riding three days in the bay of Syra, anx- 
iously waiting the arrival of the mail from Marseilles, 
the sailors pulled up the anchor, and we bore off on 
our voyage to Alexandria without it. The inhabit- 
ants, in their many- coloured and gay costumes, gath- 
ered on the shore in great numbers to witness our 
departure. We waved a long adieu to its snow- 
coloured houses, which are, in truth, more like the 
whited sepulchres of the dead, than the cheerful 
dwellings of the living ; yet, as we dashed off be- 
fore a prosperous breeze, leaving the town in the 
distance, it assumed a more strikingly beautiful ap- 
pearance than ever; and, notwithstanding previous 
impressions, we could not avoid realizing that " dis- 
tance lends enchantment to the view." 

At sundown, w^e were running along between the 
rugged and rocky islands of Naxos and Paros, and 
the next day we had a view of the shores of Candia. 

The weather was deliciously warm, and the blue 
waters of the sea were as smooth as an unbroken mir- 
ror. Not a wave rose to agitate or interrupt the calm 
and delightful movement of our incomparable boat. 

There were no passengers on board except my- 
self, wife, and an American friend. We were all in 
perfect health, so we lived well, and passed the time in 
the most delightful manner. Nothing could be more 
to our taste than every circumstance attending that 
agreeable voyage. Indeed, none could ever be more 
happily achieved. How soft and deHcious was the 
balmy, summer-like climate ! and the deep blue 
sky that hung over us was as pure as ether ; while 



MOUNTAINS OF JUDEA. 7 

the breeze that played around us was as mild as were 
the gentle breathings of the airs of Paradise. How 
harmonious and lovely the elements seemed to com- 
bine and hush all their ferocity, under the gentle in- 
fluence of peace and quietness ! And how cheerful 
and apparently happy was every living creature on 
board ! The little bird, caged against the mast, sang 
as musically and sweetly perhaps as when it flitted 
at will from bud to bough in its native grove ; and the 
noisy parrot, that coarsely mocked its notes, was as 
merry and playful as boys released from school. 
The sailors were no less joyous, and joined their 
«ocund notes with the music of the birds, in some 
of their favourite sea-songs, while they scoured the 
guns, and put every thing in order on board the ship. 
The officers, too, were in high spirits. In short, we 
were all happy; and, in the last evening of the 
voyage, as we were enjoying the first glimpse of the 
lofty mountains of Judea, the high hills of Crete 
faded from our view, and the sun sank gloriously 
into the depths of the ocean. 



ENTRANCE TO ALEXANDEU. 



CHAPTER II. 

First glimpse of Alexandria, — View by Moonlight. — Our 
Arrival. — Turkish and Egyptian Fleets. — Imaginary 
Plagues of Egypt. — Process of landing, mid the Manne'i 
of taking care of the Baggage. — The Inhabitants ; their 
Mode of Conveyance. — Plan of keeping off Intruders,, as 
practised in the East. — Ladies in Masks, and Peasants in 
Rags. — JYovel Mode of sweeping the Streets. — The use 
of Camels and Donkeys. — Water-carriers and City-criers, 
— First Impressions. 

The next morning, we were threading our wind- 
ing way through the dangerous entrance to the har- 
bour of Alexandria. I came on deck, and found all 
hands " in the suds," scraping and cleaning every 
part of it, scouring the guns, and rubbing the rigging, 
that all things might appear to the best advantage 
when in port. They commenced this operation of 
the ship's ablution and deck-scraping, over our heads, 
about four o'clock in the morning ; and so thorough 
and determined was the process of washing and scour- 
ing that part of the boat, that all efforts at repose 
were ineffectual, and sleep was quite out of the ques- 
tion, of course. 

The moon was still bright, deep in the vault of 



VIEW BY MOONLIGHT. 9 

heaven ; and the morning-star, twinkhng briUiantly 
in the east, led on by one of lesser light, though not 
less beautiful, gave a peculiar charm and sweetness 
to the mellow-tinted sky, as the first gush of Aurora 
poured along the eastern horizon. A long, low, cir- 
cling coast of sand, rising occasionally into gentle 
hillocks, dotted with motionless wind-mills, stretched 
away in the distance on the right ; while an outline 
glimpse of some of the principal edifices of Alexan- 
dria was obtained through the towering masts of the 
Turkish and Egyptian fleets, blending with the dis- 
tant view of Pompey's Pillar and Cleopatra's Needle, 
leaning against the richly-burnished sky, and pro- 
ducing, altogether, one of those incomparably beau- 
tiful and lovely landscape views which are rarely 
witnessed in nature, and reminding one most forcibly 
of those poetic and inestimable touches of Salvator 
Rosa, seen nowhere else in such glorious perfection 
as in Italy. 

This gorgeous scene, lovely in itself beyond all 
manner of description, was greatly heightened in 
beauty and grandeur when the broad sun rolled up 
from the deep sands of the desert, overwhelming, in 
his effulgence, the light of the moon and stars, and 
entered upon his bright career. 

We moved slowly into the harbour, feeling 
cautiously our way among the tall ships of Mehemet 
Ali, bustling with men, and bristling with implements 
of destruction, ready to scatter to the winds all pre- 
sumptuous opposition to their master's will. These 
numerous and immense ships of the line, with their 

Vol. I.— 2 



10 THE TURKISH FLEET. 

crescent-Stamped banners streaming at their mast- 
heads, and the swarms of jantily-dressed sailors 
that crowded their decks or rowed about from ship 
to ship, gave to the harbour of Alexandria an air of 
vivacity and warlike consequence which quite took 
us by surprise. 

It was the finest display of ships that I have ever 
seen in any part of the world. The English, how- 
ever, pronounced it at the time little more than 
a dumb show ; and subsequent events have shown, 
that however beautiful and efficient the Turkish 
fleet may have appeared when riding at anchor 
in the safe harbour of Alexandria, Mehemet Ali 
did not care to risk it in deeper water, amid the 
thunder of the British guns ; and was glad when it 
was back again at Constantinople and out of his 
sight. 

The morning, though bright and lovely at first, 
became overcast, and soon the rain descended in 
torrents ! This quite astonished us ; for, somehow 
or other, from what we had read, dreamed, or heard 
from the lecturing lips of Eastern travellers, a notion 
had crept into our heads that " it never rains in 
Egypt." The floods, however, came down as if the 
very windows of heaven had been opened, drench- 
ing through and through every thing that was ex- 
posed to its pitiless peltings, putting a damper upon 
our false, sunny ideas, and correcting an impression 
which, we found in our subsequent rambles, was 
no less erroneous than many others that we had 



PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 11 

gathered from the poetic lectures of a gentleman * 
who has thrown down such a shower of eloquence 
upon the inhabitants of the New World, by way of 
enhghtening their weak understandings in regard to 
the wonders of the Old. 

We had found ourselves so very comfortable on 
board the steamer, that we could not leave it with- 
out regret. Besides, w^e had so conjured up the 
"plagues of Egypt," — turned them over and over in 
our minds — looked at them on all sides — talked of 
them, read of them, and heard of them, until we 
had begun to put them all down as real, and ex- 
pected to meet them ashore, in every possible va- 
riety of form. These bugbears had got such a 
fearful hold of our credulous minds and sensitive 
nerves, that we shuddered at the idea of making om* 
debut on the Egyptian shore. And certain rather 
odd-looking, half-naked figures of men, women, chil- 
dren, camels, donkeys, dogs, &c., that we could see, 
mixed up in a confused kind of jumble, and strug- 
gling with each other along the edge of the water, 
like the troops of Korah in the Red Sea, did not tend 
to enlighten us in regard to the future. We began 
to think that we should probably meet little else than 
Arabs, and even felt some uneasiness about finding 
a comfortable shed on shore for our heads. Thus 
imaginary difficulties had piled themselves up in our 
minds to a height scarcely less than that of an 
Egyptian pyramid, when several boats from the town 
came alongside of the steamer, with servants, dis- 

• J. S. Buckingham, ex-member of Parliament. 



12 LANDING AT ALEXANDRIA. 

tributing the cards of the hotels of Alexandria, print- 
ed in ItaUan, French, and EngUsh. 

We had no sooner thrown out the anchor, than 
several of these agents from the " Home of the 
Stranger" came on board, each soliciting om* patron- 
age for his particular hotel — all of whom could speak 
Italian and French, and one of them spoke pretty 
good English. Difficulties vanished as if by magic, 
a load of borrowed trouble rolled from our minds, 
we cast the bugbears overboard, shut our eyes against 
all thoughts of the plague, and began to feel our- 
selves as much at ease in that mysterious and distant 
part of the world, as if we had been standing on the 
rock of the Puritans, in " our own green forest-land." 

Giving our baggage in charge of a Maltese ser- 
vant, who had it lowered into his boat, we took leave 
of our gentleman-like commandant and his very civil 
officers, and were descending the steps of the steamer, 
to go on shore, when we were accosted in English 
by a well-bred young man, wjio tendered us his ser- 
vices in any way in which we might have occasion 
for them. 

This was a piece of good fortune, as the sequel 
proved ; and we took him under our protection on 
his own terms. He had donkeys, with English sad- 
dles, for us, and camels to convey our baggage ; so 
our arrangements were all completed before we were 
on shore ; but for which circumstance we must have 
been nearly torn to pieces and scattered to the winds, 
bag and baggage; for the boat had scarcely touched 
the shore, when the half-naked Arabs waded into the 



LANDING AT ALEXANDRIA. 13 

water, and, in their endeavours to help us out of the 
boat, came near pitching us into the sea. In their 
poHteness, they laid hold of us as rashly as if we were 
to have a rough-and-tumble scuffle to see which party 
could keep their legs the longest. They were soon 
reinforced by a crowd of their dusky friends, who 
hovered around the boat, no less naked and noisy, 
and full as anxious to help us as those in whose 
hands we were then struggling. 

The crowd grew denser every moment. Those 
in the rear, in their anxiety to pick up a few paras, 
pushed down the front rank into the water. There 
was such a confusion of voices, in the deep, harsh, 
guttural, Arabic tongue, mingled with the braying of 
the donkeys and the bellowing of the camels, that it 
seemed to be a scene more like Pandemonium than 
any thing on this side of the Styx. 

While we were struggling to clear our skirts from 
the friendly aid of one crowd, another snarl, equally 
anxious to help us, caught up our cloaks, umbrellas, 
and whatever else they could lay their hands on. 
The luggage had come up at the same time, and at- 
tracted a large crowd around it, who immediately 
seized it, and proceeded to distribute it in the most 
destructive manner. 

The Maltese, in whose charge the luggage had 
been left, laid about him in great rage, protesting, at 
the top of his voice, that he did not want, nor would 
he have, any of their assistance. But it was all to 
no purpose — help him they would, at all events; 
and it was only when joined by the young man who 



14 LANDING AT ALEXANDRIA. 

came ashore in the boat with us, that he was enabled 
to rescue it from their officious hands, and to Lish it 
on the camels. In the mean time, we were in great 
personal peril, assailed as we were by a crowd o( 
Arabs with donkeys, who did their best to kidnap 
us and run us off into the town, whether we would or 
not ; and it was with no little difficulty that we kept 
our position unharmed. 

Some of the Arabs pressed us toward their quad- 
rupeds, and tried to lift us on to them. These, by 
others more zealous to get a job, were overturned 
and trampled under foot. Twenty at a time, each 
holding a donkey by the bit with one hand, goading 
him on fiercely with a sharp piece of iron in the 
other, surrounded and hemmed in a poor fellow — 
screaming, all the while, at the top of their voices — 
and nearly got him under foot, in their endeavour to 
take possession of him and give him a ride. 

Thus we were struggling for some time, between 
doubt and fear, when our new acquaintance, having 
saved our baggage, and despatched it on three cam- 
els, with the Maltese, to the custom-house, came to 
the rescue, and placed us upon his donkeys. Bui 
this process was rather rough work, and required 
proceedings wholly different from those one wit- 
nesses in civilized countries. First, he came in among 
them with a heavy cane, cutting and thrusting right 
and left, like a warrior with his battle-blade. Some 
were knocked down, some pushed down, some kicked 
down, and some kicked after they were down. In 
that summary way, he soon cleared a passage, and 



DIFFICULTIES WITH DONKEYS. 1 5 

enabled us to get to his donkeys ; which, until then, 
had been so far from the thickest part of the action, 
that we had not had a glimpse of them. 

While we were mounting, he kept off the crowd 
with slight touches of his corbash, which he did not 
scruple in using pretty freely over the backs and 
shoulders of all who came within his reach, without 
much respect to persons. 

Mrs. C. had no sooner mounted a donkey, than 
the Arab who had charge' of it began to belabour the 
poor animal so lustily, that he got hmi into a run, 
and was pushing off at a furious rate, unbidden, into 
an obscure part of the city ; while our friend the 
doctor had scarcely got easy in kis saddle, before he 
was whipped away in another direction. I mounted 
last, but was sent forward in the twinkling of an eye, 
by a man at the heels of my donkey, who urged 
him onward at the top of his speed ; and he conse- 
quently jogged on with such a rocking and unsteady 
gait, that I had great trouble in holding on ; and, what 
was worse, the poor creature, so hardly pressed, 
stumbled several times, and nearly pitched me, heels 
over head, into the sand. 

In short, w^e had no little difficulty in keeping right 
side up on the donkeys, but still more in keeping our- 
selves in the same company. However, after a while, 
we got into something like regular order, and be- 
gan to wind along through the little, narrow, wet and 
muddy streets of the town. A scene, at once novel 
and indescribably singular, now presented itself. 
The people in crowds were creeping along, over 



3 6 WATER-CARRIERS AND CITY-CRIERS. 

their ankles in mud, generally more than half naked, 
and many of them had little more covering than our 
first parents before the fall. All of them appeared 
to be about as miserable as filth, cold, hunger, want, 
rags, and no rags at all, could make them. 

Our passage was completely blocked up and over- 
shadowed by a procession of camels loaded with 
lemons and oranges. Our limbs were scarcely safe 
from the ponderous jostlings of these unwieldy, 
though patient and useful animals, when we encoun- 
tered a platoon of camels and donkeys loaded with 
goat-skins of water, which the Arabs were distri- 
buting through the streets of Alexandria, in the same 
retail way that " pure spring water" is dealt round 
from house to house in the good city of Gotham. 
Next came butt against us a large camel with a 
huge date-tree on his back, sweeping the streets, in 
his unsteady motion, for a considerable distance fore 
and aft. " Look out for heads !" Here is a knot 
of shivering Arabs, grinding corn in a little rude kind 
of mill, stuck flat in the mud, and turned by a don- 
key. There is a hideous-looking object, bearing on 
her head a loathsome substance, spread out upon a 
greasy board, crying, in the nerve-racking and jaw- 
breaking language of her country, " Hot cakes ! hot 
cakes ! here's your fine hot cakes !" Now we pass a 
cluster of Arab women in masks, according to the 
custom of the country, exhibiting little more of their 
faces than a small space around their eyes, and 
painted brows, while their legs are bare to a more 
elevated point than is even exhibited by the fair 



WATER-CARRIERS IN ALEXANDRIA. 



17 




Vol. I.— 3 



18 



SCENES IN ALEXANDRIA. 




Egyptian Women with Masks. 

artistes of the ballet, at present so popular in our 
own enlightened country. Here, again, are a dozen 
young girls, with tattooed chins, gabbling like geese 
in the snow, with scarcely a rag to cover their na- 
kedness ; and there is a drove of slaves for sale, 
dragging their rattling chains through the mud. 



THE HOTEL OF ALEXANDRIA. 19 



CHAPTER III. 

The principal Hotel in Alexandria, — Rain and Sunshine. — 
A Ride before Dinner. — Invitation to dine with Mr. and 
Mrs. Firkins. — Introduction to the Wrinklehottoms, Messrs. 
O^Statten, Sjieezebiter, O^Screenshury, and other distin- 
guished Personages. — Genealogy of the Humbug Family. 
— An Evening Circle. — A Snake Story. — An agreeable 
Surprise. 

The principal hotel of Alexandria, kept by a 
Frank, and quite in the European style, we found 
very comfortable ; and the charges not more than 
about twice as extravagant as those in most towns 
on the continent of Europe, notwithstanding bread, 
meat, and other articles of food are two or three 
hundred per cent, cheaper in Egypt than in any 
other part of the world that I have visited. How- 
ever cheap, dear, comfortable or uncomfortable it 
might have appeared to others, we were glad enough 
to escape the dismal scenes that we had just en- 
countered on our way from the shore, and take up 
our quarters in it for the time being. We had 
scarcely put ourselves down quietly, however, before 
our friend the doctor became impatient for an attack 
upon the " lions of the town." 

The rain was descending in torrents one moment, 
and the sun was shining hot enough to boil it in the 
streets the next ; nevertheless, donkeys were ordered, 



20 A RIDE BEFORE DINNER. 

and off we galloped, at a John Gilpin pace, to Pom- 
pey's Pillar. 

Our imaginations could hardly have solved the 
mystery of such an erection ; or how a race of men, 
such as the present inhabitants of Egypt (if such 
were the ancients,) could have made so fine a Block of 
granite, more than ninety feet long, and twenty-seven 
feet in circumference, stand on one end ; or what 
could have induced certain English travellers to have 
so defaced its beautifully polished surface with their 
names, painted in large black letters — names that 
have scarcely ever been heard of, before or since, in 
any other place, or under any other circumstances, 
and probably will be little heard of otherwise here- 
after, when away we darted about two miles in 
another direction, to look at Cleopatra's Needle. 

Next we wandered over some part of the ruins 
of the ancient city of the Ptolemies ; thence thread- 
ing the bazars, pondering upon the lank, lean, som- 
bre visages of the Arab and Turkish merchants, 
some of whom had eaten their onions and rice, 
swallowed their opium, and lay stretched out like 
stale codfish in their stalls, and drowned in bliss; 
while others, little more alive than dead, fuming like 
steam-engines, at their long dirty pipes, kept vigils 

over the departed; and then in this manner 

we had pitched upon one thing after another, got 
drenched in the rain, and besmeared with mud, but 
we had seen most of the curiosities of Alexandria 
before dinner. 

We had regained the comfortable rooms of the 



AN INVITATION TO DINE. 



21 



hotel in safety, and were musing over our bespattered 
plight, the wretched state of affairs in Alexandria, 
and how sadly things must have gone to waste in 
that notable city since the days of Cleopatra, when, 
most unexpectedly to us, in came a messenger with 
a polite invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Firkins, re- 
questing the pleasure of our company that day at 
dinner, at five o'clock. 

Although greatly flattered, we were somewhat as- 
tonished at this invitation, which we looked upon at 
the time as an especial honour. As we were total 
strangers in Alexandria, we did not feel ourselves at 
liberty to decline it. We wished to look into the 
state of society, and into matters and things in gene- 
ral, as much as we could have an opportunity, during 
the short period of our contemplated sojourn. We 
made inquiries respecting the standing of the family 
of the Firkins, and, having satisfied ourselves upon 
this point as well as we were enabled to do from 
such kuthority as was within our reach, we were but 
too happy to avail ourselves of their civilities ; a cir- 
cumstance which, in the simplicity of our hearts, we 
regarded as a piece of great good fortune. 

Every traveller may not be aware of the fact, that 
there reside in Alexandria, Cairo, and other parts of 
the Levant, a number of well-dressed, genteel-looking 
persons, whose sole business is to insnare the un- 
wary. Their way of managing matters is as follows. 
On the arrival of respectable strangers in their vicin- 
ity, they promptly send their names, and a card, in- 
viting them to dinner. This being accepted, as is 



22 AN INTKODUCTION. 

generally the case, it affords tliem an opportunity of 
ingratiating themselves into the favour of their new-- 
made acquaintances, and of fleecing them in every 
imaginable and possible manner — an opportunity 
that seldom passes unimproved. I have selected some 
of these from among the number for especial remark, 
and my motive for recording what follov^s, is to put 
others upon their guard, how^ they accept the atten- 
tions of those unknown to them, when similarly situa- 
ted with ourselves. With this explanation to the 
reader, I shall proceed to relate what occurred, and 
leave him to make his own deductions ; and, if he be 
a traveller in the East, to profit by our experience, 
or to let it alone, just as he pleases. 

At the appointed hour, we had the honour of 
being cosily seated at the table of our new friends, 
where we had the pleasure of being introduced to 
Mr. O'Statten, Mr. and Mrs. Wrinklebottom, the 
Misses Wrinklebottom, their French governess, and 
Mr. O'Screensbury. 

The table was bountifully supplied with cold ham, 
chickens, turkeys, &c., and the brandy, beer, wine, 
and cider flowed almost as copiously indoors as the 
showers in the streets. Justice, however, compels 
me to add, that we made a capital dinner. 

Mr. Firkins informed us that he was greatly in fa- 
vour with the Pacha of Egypt ; that he was much in 
his councils, saw him hourly at the palace, and, in 
fact, that he could do almost anything he had a mind 
to with Mehemet Ali, any day of his life. This, of 
course, naturally enough raised our curiosity, to find 



FAMILY OF THE HUMBUGS. 23 

that we had stepped right off, without an effort, as it 
were, into such high-toned society ; and. that we 
were hand and glove with a gentleman who seemed, 
by his own showing, to have more power over the 
refractory Pacha than all the " Great Powers" of 
Europe put together. As Mr. Firkins saw the 
gradual opening of our curiosity, he kindly filled our 
glasses anew, and had the goodness to warm himself 
into a more elevated and poetical strain of egotism 
and self-commendation, until he finally let the whole 
" cat out of the bag." We were really very much 
amused by his conversation ; and so well contented 
with us did Mr. Firkins himself seem to be, that he 
would have been willing, in the benevolence and 
goodness of his heart, to " laugh and drink cider 
with us all day." 

These very pleasant people, Mr. and Mrs. Firkins, 
are connexions of the present Lord Humbug, of 
England, and descendants of his Grace, the great 
Duke of Humbug, who distinguished himself so emi- 
nently under the reign of Clueen Anne. The Hum- 
bug family is very numerous in England at the pre- 
sent moment, and the most powerful, probably, of any 
in the whole realm. The connexion is now traced 
to the royal family, though it is an honour that the 
Queen and her illustrious uncles, and other great 
personages standing near the throne, are not very 
proud to acknowledge. But the vast wealth of the 
Humbug family is proverbial all over the world? It 
embraces, among other property, besides the most 
splendid palaces in the metropolis, nearly all the 



24 FAMILY OF THE HUMBUGS. 

landed interest of the kingdom. And so vast are 
the investments of the Humbugs in the Enghsh 
funds, that it is said they completely control the 
prices of stocks on 'Change, in the city, from genera- 
tion to generation. It is a very rich, powerful, and 
talented family ; and I think it v^ould be a difficult 
matter ever to put them down, though their wealth, 
influence, and exalted character have excited a great 
deal of envy among the lower classes, and made them 
a host of enemies, who, it k lamentable to say, are 
doing all in their power to injure the fair fame and 
well-earned reputation of this very ancient and noble 
English family. 

As is generally the case with bitter and deter- 
mined enemies, there are many slanderous things 
said, and much unprincipled backbiting, which have 
not the least foundation in truth : and since it would 
be considered a condescension quite incompatible 
with the dignity of the Humbugs, to reply to these 
petty scandals which their malicious enemies have 
been so active in diffusing into the public mind, it is 
an incontrovertible fact, that there are very strong pre- 
judices existing against the Humbug family, through- 
out Christendom. They do something indirectly, it is 
true, to counteract the bad effects of this impression, 
(which seems to be getting stronger and stronger 
every day,) through the influence of the English 
press, which is said to be so wound up and so 
deeply entangled in the affairs of the Humbugs, that 
to advocate any other cause would be its destruc- 
tion. In addition to which, many of the more 



FAMILY OF THE HUMBUGS. 25 

humble branches of the family have tm-ned authors 
themselves, and flourished their pens in the common 
cause of their noble connexions. And, to have a 
more attractive and plausible reason for adopting a 
course of that kind, they have generally travelled 
into foreign countries, examined the state of society, 
&c. ; after which they have an apology for writing a 
book, which gives them an opportunity, while dis 
charging their abuse upon others, to praise themselves 
and laud their ancestors. In this manner, they are 
pretty sure to get read ; and there can scarcely be a 
doubt of the benefit that almost unavoidably results 
to the Humbugs and their cause. The communica- 
tion has latterly become so easy between the United 
States and Great Britain, that many of these authors 
of the Humbug family, have honoured that dark and 
benighted part of the world with their presence ; and 
have done a great deal to raise the expectation of 
the people, and to excite the curiosity of other na- 
tions. But as their books and lectures have mostly 
been published, time will determine their eifects upon 
mankind, and test the stability or downfall of Ameri- 
can institutions, as well as the permanency or ruin 
of the present dynasties of the European Humbugs. 
To return to this charming family, Mr. and Mrs. 
Firkins, of Alexandria, lineal descendants of the 
Humbugs. However much Mr. F. might be inclined 
to boast of his influence over the weak-minded 
Pacha of Egypt, he never plumed himself, I believe, 
on his honours and titles to nobility. Indeed, he so 
altered his views upon this subject, that he changed 
Vol. 1—4 



26 HISTORY OF MR. FIRKINS. 

his rightful name, denied his Uneage, and waged war 
to extirpation upon the whole Humbug family, Lord 
Humbug, Lady Humbug, and all the Humbugs, great 
and small, throughout the United Kingdom of Eng- 
land, Scotland and Ireland. This was going great 
lengths with his own relatives, though there is 
an apology which may be offered for such a sweep- 
ing denunciation, which will soften somewhat its 
severity, and will go far, doubtless, to excuse Mr. 
Firkins from the penalties of its rashness and im- 
prudence. 

The fact is, Mr. Firkins's nerves were never hung 
upon very steady keys ; and the strong wines and 
dense fogs of England had nearly perfected their 
ruin. This was his case, when his friends, to save 
him from the tender mercies of the managers of an 
insane hospital, to the honours of which he seemed to 
have many palpable claims, advised him to try the 
mild climate of Egypt for a few years, in hopes that 
he might, under its clear sky and genial sun, recover, 
in some degree at least, the healthful and natural 
tone of feeling of which he had been robbed by the 
late dinners and wretched climate of England. 

In this respect, I am gratified to know that the 
anxious wishes of the friends of Mr. Firkins have 
been realized to a considerable extent, though there 
can be little doubt of his not being quite right in his 
head at times, even now ; and I fancied I could per- 
ceive in the looks and movements of his amiable 
lady, during dinner, whenever her lord and master 
rose into a strain of self-praise particularly poetical, 



CHARACTER OF MR. FIRKINS. 27 

and emptied his glass more frequently than common, 
that she was not without her fears of a relapse into 
his old complaint. 

Everything in regard to the dinner passed off 
smoothly and without accident. Mr. Firkins rose 
from the table perfectly sober, for anything that he 
had drunk that day, though there was a little unstea- 
diness observable in his step, to which he called our 
attention, at the same time ascribing it to a late 
dinner that he had given to some rather jovial 
friends, similarly situated with ourselves, the day 
before. That was an explanation that Mr. Firkins 
was under no necessity of making ; and I thought, 
by a significant kind of twist about the pretty mouth 
of Mrs. Firkins, that she would much rather that 
he had said nothing on the subject. Indeed, it 
was scarcely worth minding ; and had it not been 
for the extremely open-hearted manner of Mr. Fir- 
kins, and an apparently strong desire on his part to 
entertain his friends, we should probably never have 
heard it mentioned, nor noticed that Mr. Firkins, on 
that occasion, assumed any other than his usual gait. 
As it was, the explanation was perfectly satisfactory, 
and served to illustrate the fair, unconcealed, frank 
manner of Mr. Firkins, who, in England, could 
hardly fail to be recognised among his friends as 
" a d — d fine, hospitable fellow." 

Firkins was, in truth, what some would term a de- 
lightful companion, though by others he might not 
be much esteemed. For my own part, though the 
evidence had been heard and noted, I had not 



28 AN AFTERNOON DRIVE. 

" summed up." I was not then quite prepared to 
give a decision in his case, nor even now do I think 
it worth while to trouble the reader with my opinion. 
It is true that some Uttle pecuniary transactions 
grew out of our acquaintance, which might have 
been a sufficient pretext for some to have pro- 
nounced him, right off hand, one of the greatest 
" humbugs" in all Egypt ; but as the shave, at most, 
could not have exceeded a few hundred piastres, I 
made up my mind, from the first, to keep it a pro- 
found secret ; and I now only allude to it here in 
the most confidential manner with the reader, at 
the same time enjoining upon him the strictest se- 
crecy touching all business transactions between 
Mr. Firkins and myself. I would not, however, by 
any means have him forget the kind and hospitable 
treatment that we received at the hands of Mr. Fir- 
kins and his accomplished lady. 

Dinner was no sooner over than Mr. Firkins or- 
dered the horses and carriages to be in readiness, and 
invited us to take a drive. The sun was fast sink- 
ing below the western horizon, and the rain and 
clouds had cleared away. We turned out of the 
great " European Square," drove over a part of the 
ruins of ancient Alexandria, and passed out at the 
Rosetta gate on to the desert, for some distance be- 
yond, until the sombre shades of evening began to 
thicken around and admonish us to return to town. 

It was an agreeable drive ; and when we returned 
to the hospitable mansion of Mr. Firkins, we found 
tea upon the table. This dehcious beverage, always 



AN EVENING CIRCLE. * 29 

refreshing and grateful to the taste, was rendered 
doubly sweet on this occasion by the sweet sugar 
and sweeter manners of Mrs. Firkins, who did the 
honours of her tea-table " in a most capital manner." 
Mrs. Firkins is a lady of considerable conversational 
talent, and she talked wdth great fluency and anima- 
tion upon most subjects of general interest, though, 
perhaps, not always with that intelligence and ele- 
gance of diction which are considered unexception- 
able in polite circles, or as either above or below 
criticism. If there was a tendency either way, I 
should be inclined to think it was a downward one. 
Still, however much she might be found wanting in 
elevation, either in style or sentiment, her voice was 
sufficiently high to suit the taste of those who are not 
only blind to all the charms of nature, but who have 
even lost their hearing. Indeed, this seemed to be 
one of her great points ; and whenever she appeared 
to lag in other respects, for want of a word or an idea, 
she was sure to bring herself handsomely out of the 
trifling embarrassment, by raising her voice to a pitch 
sufficiently elevated to drown all recollection of any- 
thing else. In this way she could hardly fail to 
amuse and attract attention. 

Tea passed off in a sprightly and agreeable 
manner ; the Arab servants had cleared the table ; 
Mrs. Firkins reclined in her easy chair, drumming 
with the fore-finger of her right hand upon the 
mahogany ; while Mr. Firkins sat down to his hookah, 
drawing away at it rather lustily, and debating at in- 
tervals with Mrs. Firkins and the rest of the com- 



30 * A NEW-COMER. 

pany, whether the remainder of the evening should 
be taken up with cards, or spun out with music and 
agreeable conversation. 

As for myself, wife, and friend, we were all fond 
of music, but knew very little about cards ; besides, 
I was aware that the doctor would not play for 
money (if at all) under any consideration : and to 
have proposed to play a hand at cards in an English 
gentleman's house for no stakes at all, would have 
been a breach of good-breeding, I am sure, that could 
not have been very easily overlooked by Mr. and 
Mrs. Firkins. I therefore advocated music. 

After some little conversation in an under tone 
between Mrs. Firkins and Mr. O'Statten, which I 
could not understand, Mr. O'Statten, who plays the 
harp with considerable effect, proceeded to get out 
his instrument and adjust it, for the purpose of de- 
lighting us with his musical talents. He sat down 
to the harp, gave himself a solemn and dignified 
expression of face and attitude, thumbed the strings, 
tightened the keys, and was about to commence 
playing, when the door opened to the touch of a 
tall, graceful figure, dressed in the rich, flowing 
Turkish costume, with an immensely long beard that 
reached far down his bosom. 

The new-comer wore a splendid turban and tur- 
boosh, and a long Turkish sabre swung at his side, 
suspended by rich hangings from his ample sash, 
into which were thrust two large duelling-pistols, 
with gold-mounted and elaborately- wrought stocks, 
In all respects he looked like a Turk of high degree. 



A NEW-COMER. 31 

The imposing appearance of the august visiter 
impressed us with an idea of the prodigious conse- 
quence of Mr. Firkins, and we could not help 
thinking that the eastern question was at last in a 
fair way of being brought to a happy termination — 
that gentleman in Turkish costume can be no other 
than the Grand Seignior himself, come here, no doubt, 
through the influence of Mr. Firkins, to smoke a 
pipe with Mehemet Ali, and hush up all differences 
between them, thereby preserving, for the present, 
the peace of the world, and preventing the effusion 
of blood about the settlement of so trifling a matter 
as that of which tyrant shall have dominion over the 
wretched barbarians of the promised land. " Admi- 
rable !" and if the thing is really brought about 
through the influence of Mr. Firkins, he will deserve 
a place in Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's, at some 
future day, as much, to say the least, as Colonel 
McNab deserved to be knighted for the outrage of 
piracy, arson, and murder committed a few years 
since on the American shores. 

" Very good — very good indeed ; and we are to 
have the honour of coming in contact with these two 
great personages without the cumbersome and disa- 
greeable form of an introduction at their palaces !" 
" The Grand Sultan is already here, and Mehemet Ali 
must be close at hand, without doubt !" — " What an 
elevated circle we have dropped into this evening ! 
The great eastern question, that has been so long 
discussed, vexed and agitated, is really to be settled 
amicably, over the tea-table of Mr. Firkins; the 



32 A NEW-COMER. 

peace of the world is to be preserved ; Mehemet Ali 
and the Sultan are to shake hands in friendship 
to-night ; old differences are to be adjusted, new 
friendships formed, new embraces, much smoking, 
some clattering of glasses and coffee-cups, etc. 
What an enlarged and prodigious man this Mr. 
Firkins must be !" 

As I was hurriedly ruminating upon these things, 
with my eyes on the door to see who was coming 
next, (for I expected every minute to see the friend 
of Mr. Firkins, Mehemet Ali, enter the room with 
the Sultan's pipe,) this mysterious, Turkish-looking 
gentleman advanced with an easy and graceful step 
toward Mrs. Firkins, bowed with his right hand 
on his heart in the eastern manner, and addressed 
her in English ! " What !" " Who can it be ?" " It's 
not the Sultan, after all" — nor did Mehemet Ali 
make his appearance at all during the evening ! 
Strange ! " But who can this singular apparition 
be 1 Nothing less than a Pacha, certainly 1" 

Still I had an idea that the circle was rather bril- 
liant ; for, besides Mr. and Mrs. Firkins, there were 
Mr. O'Statten, the Irish harper ; Mr. O'Screensbury , 
Mr. and Mrs. Wrinklebottom, and the two Misses 
Wrinklebottom, and their French governess, besides 
the gentleman in Turkish costume, who had just 
taken a seat near Mrs. Firkins, and entered into 
conversation with all the ease and fluency of a man 
who had been used to European society. I could 
not help thinking these Turks curious fellows, 
judging from the specimen before me. 



MR. SNEEZEBITER. 33 

"He talks like a Turk who has been bom in 
England, and lived there all his days," said the 
doctor, in a whisper to me, who, I conjectured from 
that, began to have some strange misgivings as to 
the authenticity of his Turkship's credentials, 

I observed that Mrs. C.'s curiosity was wound up 
to the highest pitch. Mrs. Wrinklebottom and the 
two Misses Wrinklebottom were in a state of fever- 
ish excitement. 

Mr. Wrinklebottom and Mr. O'Screensbury were 
taken as much by surprise as the rest of us. But I 
noticed Mr. O'Statten, who had wiped off the so- 
lemnity from his face, and laid away his harp, cast 
rather significant glances, with his finger on his nose, 
toward Mrs, Firkins; while Mr. Firkins continued 
to draw wind into his stomach from his hookah, 
without uttering a word. 

" Strange, all this," thought I, " and I don't believe 
this English-spoken Turk will turn out to be even a 
Pacha !" What a disappointment ! " But how is 
it ? What does it all mean I It cannot be possible 
that Englishmen come off here and make such 
figures of themselves, certainly !" 

"Who is he? — what is he ?" said I to Mr. Fir- 
kins, toward whom I carefully drew my chair, for 
the purpose of learning, if possible, something of the 
history of an object that had broken up our musical 
entertainment, and thrown the whole party into a 
lilydew of apprehension. 

Mr. Firkins very obligingly enterec^ into an ex- 
planation of the phenomenon. He said it was a 

Vol. 1,-5 



34 HISTORY OF MR. SNEEZEBITER. 

young man from England, Mr. Christopher Sneeze- 
biter, eldest son of Sir Christopher Sneezebiter, a 
gentleman of easy circumstances and considerable 
political influence in the county of Kent. 

" It is true," said he, '' that Mr. Sneezebiter gradua- 
ted at Oxford, and will succeed to the title and the 
Sneezebiter estates at the death of his father ; but 
just at present, there is a wide difference between 
him and Sir Christopher, which has occasioned his 
residence in this country . for several years. Sir 
Christopher Sneezebiter," continued Mr. Firkins, 
" is a high tory, an uncompromising stickler for the 
corn-laws, and a churchman of the old school, who 
would not, under any consideration whatever, give his 
consent to the establishment of a general system of 
education throughout the kingdom, unless that sys- 
tem be completely and most absolutely under the 
control and spiritual guidance of the church of Eng- 
land. He has educated his own children in a liberal 
and genteel manner, and well he might, for he is a 
man of ample fortune. But as Christopher, the 
young gentleman now in conversation with Mrs. Fir- 
kins, ran through a large sum of money during his 
collegiate course at Oxford, and exhibited some 
rather prodigal inclinations afterward, his father put 
him upon a restricted annual allowance of only two 
thousand pounds. This paltry sum being altogether 
too trifling in amount to sustain the young man in 
anything like decent society in London, where he 
had entered h^ name at Lincolns'-Inn-Fields, he at 
onee abandoned the law and came out to the East. 



MR. SNEEZEBITER'S OCCUPATIONS. 35 

After travelling through Turkey and Syria, he set- 
tled down in Egypt, and has never been to England 
since. He draws regularly on Sir Christopher for his 
two thousand a year ; and here, where everything is 
comparatively cheap, he manages, somehow or other, 
I believe, to get on without running much into debt." 

" Really !" said I. 

" Yes," said Mr. Firkins, " and what may be con- 
sidered not a little curious, perhaps, among people 
from England and America, where the education of 
the young is so much neglected as to give them 
very little or no taste for the enjoyment of the natu- 
ral sciences, Mr. Sneezebiter, since his residence in 
this country, has paid great attention to that branch 
of study, until he has finally become the greatest 
connoisseur in snakes, lizards, scorpions, and every- 
thing of that kind, in all Egypt." 

" Indeed !" said I. 

" Yes," resumed Mr. Firkins, " he is very clever at 
all that sort of thing ; and understands the intrinsic 
value of each species, and their comparative worth, 
as well as any gentleman in the Levant." 

" But," said I, " does Mr. Sneezebiter give his 
whole attention to that study 1 Has he no other oc- 
cupation ]" 

- " Yes," said Mr. Firkins, " he has ; though he pass- 
es a large part of his time with the snake-merchants 
and in his snakery, which comprises some beautiful 
specimens — the most splendid that I have ever seen 
in any part of this country. Many of his lizards 
and scorpions, which are superb, cost him an im- 



36 MR. SNEEZEBITER'S OCCUPATIONS. 

meDse sum ; and his snakes are all the rage now 
among the admirers of these animals, both in Alex- 
andria and Cairo." 

" That is marvellous," said Mr. Wrinklebottom, 
who, till that moment, had been a silent listener to 
this historical account of young Mr. Sneezebiter, 
" and," continued Mr. Wrinklebottom, " w^hat else 
does this extraordinary young man do here ?" 

" Why," replied Mr. Firkins, after giving two or 
three strong pulls at his hookah, " he has established, 
in Upper Egypt, for the amusement of his friends, 
and to fill up his own time after snake-hours are 
over on 'change, a harem; and I understand he is 
about opening negotiations for the establishment of a 
branch in this city, though of this part of Mr. Sneeze- 
biter's enterprise I am sorry to be obliged to speak 
more discouragingly. He does not seem to possess 
the right kind of genius and tact for matters of this 
kind ; and though he has been dabbling in them for 
more than five years, and expended enormous sums 
of money in rich dresses and in collecting subjects, 
yet, I believe, he can only boast of a kind of fifth-rate 
country harem after all. He has great taste for 
snakes and all that sort of thing, and has established 
a reputation in that line that will not be easily sha- 
ken ; but a harem is another sort of business ; it re- 
quires great genius and a thorough-bred Turk to suc- 
ceed well in getting up a splendid harem. English- 
men have often tried it, but have never yet succeeded 
well in it, and never will." 

Mr. Wrinklebottom now settled down into a kind 



A SNAKE STORY. 37 

of ruminating attitude, and with his hands clinched 
over the back of his chair, and his head a httle in- 
chned over the right slioulder, he began to hum, in 
an under tone, " God save the Queen." Mr. Fir- 
kins continued drawling at his hookah, w^ithout say- 
ing anything further about Mr. Sneezebiter, v^ho still 
kept up an animated conversation with Mrs. Firkins 
in another part of the room, toward whom I drew 
my chair, with a view of picking up some ideas ^as 
they might fall from the lips of this oracle of the 
science of snakes and reptiles. 

Mr. Sneezebiter was deeply and earnestly en- 
gaged upon his favourite theme. He told Mrs. Fir- 
kins that every house in Egypt had more or less 
snakes in it, and scorpions too. " And," said he, " it 
is one of the greatest blessings to the country that ever 
happened, for they are greatly conducive to health. 
A house in Egypt," continued Mr. Sneezebiter, 
" without snakes in it, would not be fit to live in a 
single day, the air would become so impure." 

"Why," said Mrs. Firkins, "really, Mr. Sneeze- 
biter, you can hardly be in earnest — you are not so 
scandalous as to believe that we have snakes here 
in our house, are you V 

" Scandalous !" replied Mr. Sneezebiter. " Snakes 
in your house ! I'll lay a wager, now, of the finest 
lizard in my collection, against fifty pounds, that you 
have more than twenty snakes in your house this 
very minute ; and, what's more," said he, " give me 
liberty to search for them, and I'll bring tliem all up 
here into your drawing-room in half an hour." 



38 A SNAKE STORY. 

" Abominable ! Mr. Sneezebiter," exclaimed Mrs. 
Firkins. " You frighten me out of my wits. Selim," 
continued Mrs. Firkins, addressing herself to one of 
the Arab servants, "bring me the Cologne water;" 
and, casting a look of wildness and concern around 
the room, she said, " Don't say anything more about 
snakes, T beg of you, Mr. Sneezebiter. I shall not 
sleep a wink all night." 

"What a foolish whim that!" said Mr. Sneeze- 
biter, at the same time pulling up the sleeve of his 
left arm above the elbow, and exhibiting several deep 
prints of the teeth of a snake. " See here," said he, 
"what was done the other day in a tussle I had 
with some snakes that I was bringing down from 
Cairo; they were some wild-horned fellows — the 
only ones that I could find on sale there good for 
anything." 

" And," said the doctor, who had just taken a seat 
in that part of the room, " what, pray, do • you do 
with snakes 1" 

" Do with snakes ?" replied Mr. Sneezebiter ; 
" why, I let them curl around my neck, carry them 
about with me in my bosom and pockets." 

" Impossible !" cried Mrs. Wrinklebottom. 

" O ! horrid !" said the two Misses Wrinklebot- 
tom in the same breath. 

" What a wretch !" exclaimed Mr. O'Screensbury. 

" But you don't mean to say," exclaimed Mrs. 
Firkins to Mr. Sneezebiter, "that you came here 
with snakes in your bosom ?" 

" In truth, Mrs. Firkins," replied Mr. Sneezebiter, 



AN AGREEABLE SURPRISE. 



39 



" you have rarely or never seen me vrithout them in 
my bosom and pockets too." 

" Dreadful !" exclaimed Mrs. Firkins, at the same 
instant drawing her chair a little further from that of 
Mr. Sneezebiter, and casting a look behind her. 

All present looked as though they felt snakes and 
lizards crawling over them. It was a moment of 
the deepest excitement. 

" But," continued Mrs. Firkins, " you have no 
snakes about you to-night, I hope 1" 

Mr. Sneezebiter, to the surprise of everybody, and 
without replying to the last question, thrust his right 
hand deep into his bosom ; and, while every eye was 
riveted upon him, and all the party described a circle 
with their chairs, he with the greatest unconcern and 
nonchalance imaginable, pulled out a large, myste- 
rious-looking, black-spotted -^pocket-handkerchief I 




Mr. Sn eezkbiter's Wiper, 



40 



A SEARCH FOR SNAKES. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Some of the Plagues of Egypt, and a touch of the JSTight-mare. 
— Captain Underdone, and his taste for Snakes, Lizards, 
Scorpions, and other Reptiles. — House-snakes. — Snake- 
charmers and Snake-eaters of the East. — Sacred Reptiles of 
Egypt. — Opinions of Diodorus, Plutarch, Wilkinson, and 
Champollion. — Asp-formed Crowns of the ancient Kings 
and Queens of Egypt. — Asp-headed Deities. — The Statues 
of Ms crowned with Asps. — Dancing Snakes of India. — • 
Probable cause of Cleopatra'' s choice to die by the venomous 
sting of the Asp. 

As might have been expected, after returning to 
the hotel from the party mentioned in the last chap- 
ter, we had a crawling sensation all over us, and a 
thorough hunt about the apartment for snakes. I 
took a candle in one hand and a cane in the other, 
and began to pry up the coverlets, blankets, and 
sheets of the bed, expecting to see more or less 
snakes, of considerable size, tumble upon the floor, 
which I was determined to kill on the spot, let the* 
consequence be what it might. Finding none of 
these Egyptian playthings among the sheets and 
coverlets, I continued the investigation down through 
bolsters, mattress, and straw bed, even to the old iron 
hedstead itself; and that, too, I rolled about, to see if 
I could not raise a scorpion at least; but I could 
not discover any thing of the kind. 



A SEARCH FOR SNAKES. 41 

" Well, this is droll enough," said I ; " for, from 
the stirring account that we have heard to-night, 
one might reasonably enough have expected to 
raise, in a search of this kind, half a dozen good- 
sized snakes, and as many scorpions, besides a 
sprinkling of lizards." I continued to shake the 
window- curtains and look behind the bureaus, tables, 
chairs, etc., and thought it perfectly unaccountable. 
I did not know what to make of the business ; but 
having searched thoroughly enough to find them, 
were there any of these abominable reptiles there, 
and not being successful, I naturally concluded that 
there were no snakes in Egypt. 

" Certainly," said Mrs. C, " it does seem that you 
have done your duty manfully, and I don't see what 
else we can do about it." 

The fact is, neither of us could have thrown any 
fuither light upon the subject, and so we threw our- 
selves into bed. 

Our good friend the doctor, who had a room next 
to ours, was not so easily satisfied, I presume ; though 
T never took occasion to broach the subject to him 
subsequently. But we heard him, long after we had 
retired, making certain suspicious and careful move- 
ments about the room, which we construed into a 
very thorough snake and scorpion investigation. 

While pondering upon the singular and strange 
events and incidents of this our first day in Egypt, 
we both fell asleep. 

I was soon lost to all recollection of the plagues of 
Egypt, and every thing else. At length I imagined 

Vol. L — 6 



42 A TOUCH OF THE NIGHT-MARE. 

that I was attacked by a large number of the most 
venomous reptiles in the land. Anacondas, boa-con- 
strictors, scorpions, lizards, and snakes surrounded 
me on all sides ; and I even felt their deadly stings 
fastening upon my legs and arms as I struggled 
against their horrid assault. I endeavoured to make 
my escape from their infernal coils, by running away. 
This, however, I found impossible ; for they met me, 
with their heads erect, at every turn ; and, with open 
mouths and forked tongues, seemed ready to devour 
me. I imagined myself on the banks of the Nile, 
and thought I would plunge into the river and swim 
to the other side ; but when I cast my eyes toward 
that doubtful door of escape, an innumerable host of 
crocodiles, more hideous than the serpents themselves, 
were playing about upon the surface of the water, 
with distended jaws, offering me a reception more 
revolting and dreadful than Jonah met with when 
cast into the sea by the relentless mariners of Joppa. 
Driven to a fearful extremity, and no one near to 
relieve me, and just as a large snake was coiling his 
cold length around me — while I was choakingin his 
slimy folds, and struggling in the last agonies of 

death, I gasped, screamed aloud, and awoke. 

On being asked what was the matter, I answered, 
" Nothing, I believe, but a slight touch of the night- 
mare." I endeavoured to address myself again to 
sleep, but that was utterly out of the question; 
for, although there were no evil spirits in the bed, I 
found, on examination, some twenty or thirty large 
fleas, and little creeping things too numerous to par- 



CAPTAIN UNDERDONE. 43 

ticularize. I thought, really, we were among the 
" plagues of Egypt" at last. 

These things naturally annoy an uninitiated travel- 
ler ; but the Egyptians themselves are so used to 
fleas, bedbugs, scorpions, snakes, and all that sort of 
thing, that they talk about them with much compo- 
sure, and look upon them as matters of course, for 
which there is no remedy. They have learned to 
dwell with them promiscuously in their houses, and 
contrive, by hook or by crook, to get along with 
them — somewhat, perhaps, like an ill-connected 
married couple ; who, being " paired, not matched,'' 
now and then clinch each other by the hair or the 
knuckles, yet manage to jog on together, and fulfil 
at least a portion of the commandments, notwith- 
standing their disagreements. 

What struck us as being rather a remarkable taste, 
especially for Europeans, is one which seems to be 
progressing to a state of great perfection, through 
the influence and talents of young Mr, Sneezebiter 
and some of his English friends, for petting and deal* 
ing in snakes and such like abominable things. I 
saw, during our wanderings in the East, several of 
these English connoisseurs in reptiles, besides Mr. 
Sneezebiter ; though he certainly had more distinc- 
tion in the science than all the rest of them. 

There was an English officer, Captain Under- 
done, a rather sprightly-looking young gentleman, 
with quite a handsome mustache, for whom a com- 
mission in the army had but a short time pre- 
viously been purchased, who also might justly have 



44 HIS TASTE FOR SNAKES, &c. 

been considered, 1 think, very enterprising in the 
snake business. He accompanied us through the 
desert. But, as I shall have occasion to give a fur- 
ther account of this gentleman in the subsequent 
pages of this work, I will here simply observe that 
he made a collection, in Upper Egypt, of several kinds 
of snakes and lizards, which he carefully carried 
through the desert to Syria, and thence, I suppose, to 
England ; adding such kinds of scorpions and other 
venomous reptiles as he most fancied by the way. 
He was quite successful in his researches at Petra 
and Mount Sinai, and swelled his charge to a most 
terrific bulk ; so much so, that I was fearful that the 
whole caravan would be stung to death with his 
snakes. 

If this passion for snakes, asps, and scorpions in- 
creases among the English in proportion to the in- 
creased number of travellers in the East from Great 
Britain, it will not be long before the rage for specu- 
lation in these reptiles in Egypt will reach as fearful 
a pitch as the speculative mania for " up-town lots" 
ever attained in New York; or even the madness of 
the Dutch, when they paid thousands of dollars for a 
single flower-root. 

Whatever may be said in favour of or against the 
refined taste of the EngHsh in this matter, it is a 
well-known fact that shakes have been held in no 
little regard in Egypt, and, indeed, in most of the 
countries of the East, from time immemorial. 

There were snake-charmers in the land of Judea 
in the time of David, Solomon, and Jeremiah, of 



SNAKE-CHARMERS. 45 

which fact the Bible bears incontestable evidence : 
" Their poison is like the poison of a serpent : they 
are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear ; which 
will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming 
never so wisely."* Again : " Surely the serpent will 
bite without enchantment."f And, " Behold, I will 
send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will 
not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the 
Lord."t Professed snake-charmers are not only to 
be met with, at the present day, in the Holy Land, 
and in other parts of Turkey, but in Egypt§ there 
are many of these professional gentlemen, who go 
about the country with their bosoms full of snakes, 
and have no other occupation but that of charming 
snakes, and clearing houses of such reptiles as the 
occupants may take a notion to expel. 

This service, on the part of the charmers, is per- 
formed for a trifling remuneration, and occupies but 
a few moments. 

The most celebrated among these serpent-charm- 
ers are the dervishes. Others have embraced the 
profession, but with less success. They pretend to 
be able to determine whether there are serpents in 
a house or not, before commencing the search. This 
is very remarkable ; and by some it is believed that 
the charmers practise a deception upon the unwary, 
by taking a snake from their bosom, and exhibiting 
the same as one which they pretend to have found 
in the house. 

* Psalm Iviii. 4, 5. f Ecclesiastes x. 11. X Jeremiah viii. 17. 
§ Lane's Modern Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 106. 



46 SNAKE-EATERS. 

Their skill is said to have been tested under cir- 
cumstances that would seem to preclude the possi- 
bility of such deception. Sometimes they have been 
deprived of all their clothes, and required to perform 
their strange enchantments in a state of nudity, and 
have been as successful as under ordinary circum- 
stances. When they enter a house for this purpose, 
they are said to " put on an air of mystery — strike 
the w^alls vs^ith a short palm-stick — w^histle — make a 
clucking noise with their tongue — spit upon the 
ground — and generally say, ' I adjure you by God, 
if ye be above or if ye be below, that you come 
forth : I adjure you by the most great Name, if ye 
be obedient, come forth ; and if ye be disobedient, 
die ! die ! die !' " 

These serpent-charmers sometimes carry scor- 
pions in their caps and hats, and frequently, too, next 
to the bare skin ; as they generally shave off the hair 
of the head, and during some of their high religious 
festivals, they are said to devour live serpents. This 
horrid custom, though scarcely less revolting than 
many other abominable absurdities often practised 
among barbarous and uncivilized nations, has, nev- 
ertheless, been almost wholly abolished by the Egyp- 
tians. But it was the practice, until within the last 
few years, for the serpent-charmers, in the festival 
observed in honour of the birth of the Prophet, to eat 
live serpents, though it was not always done in pub- 
lic. It was generally performed before a select num- 
ber, including the sheik of the order of dervishes, 
and other persons of distinction. 



ANECDOTE OF A SNAKE-EATER. 47 

Mr. Lane says, in his account of the manners and 
customs of the modern Egyptians, that " serpents 
and scorpions were not unfrequently eaten by Saadees 
during his former visit to that country ; and when- 
ever a Saadee ate the flesh of a hve serpent, he was, 
or affected to be, excited to do so by a kind of 
phrensy."* He also adds, that " serpents are not al- 
ways handled with impunity by Saadees or charmers. 
A few years ago, a dervish of this sect, who was called 
el-Feel (or the Elephant), from his bulky and mus- 
cular form, and great strength, and who. was the most 
famous serpent-eater of his time, and of any age, 
having a desire to rear a serpent pf a very venomous 
kind, which his boy had brought him among others 
that he had collected in the desert, put this reptile 
into a basket, and kept it for several days without 
food, to weaken it. He then put his hand into the 
basket to take it out, for the purpose of extracting 
its teeth, but it immediately bit his thumb. He called 
^or help ; there were, however, none but women in 
the hjouse, and they feared to come to him ; so that 
many minutes elapsed before he could obtain assist- 
ance. His whole arm was then found to be swollen 
and black, and he died after a few hours." 

Whether the ancient Egyptians were more or less 
powerful in their works of enchantment than the 
moderns, it is pretty certain, from the many sculp- 
tured representations of the serpent that are still 
visible upon their temples, tombs, and monumental 
erections, that this reptile took a much higher grade 

* Lane's Modern Egyptians, ii. 207. 



48 SACRED REPTILES OF EGYPT. 

in former times, than it seems to hold among the 
Egyptians of the present day. Some EngUsh ad- 
mirers of this animal may ascribe this circumstance 
to a want of taste on the part of the modern Egyp- 
tians, and the downward, tendency that has fastened 
upon every thing in that country since the Persian 
conquest. No doubt great corruptions have crept 
into the manners, customs, and religious worship of 
the Egyptians since Cambyses marched his victo- 
rious army into the country, and overturned their 
gods ; though they were not, probably, quite perfect, 
in their most prosperous days. 

Snakes were among the sacred animals of the an- 
cient Egyptians, though all kinds of serpents were 
not deemed sacred. The horned snake was sacred 
to the god Amun, at Thebes, and is found embalmed 
in the tombs of that remarkable city at the present 
day. 

The asp, too, must have been accounted very sa- 
cred, and is often seen sculptured upon the temples. 
Mr. Wilkinson says, in his Manners and Customs 
of the Ancient Egyptians, that the " Genius of the 
lower country, a goddess who was the guardian pro- 
tectress of the monarchs, is represented under the 
form of an asp, frequently with wings, having the 
crown of Lower Egypt, which is also worn by her 
when figured as a goddess." The goddess* " Soven 
or Eilethyia, the protectress of mothers in child- 
birth, is sometimes represented with the body of a 
vulture and the head of a snake." " This goddess," 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, ii. 45. 



SACRED REPTILES OF EGYPT. 49 

he says, " may also be the genius of the upper coun- 
try or the South, opposed to the genius of the lower 
country." The goddess Ranno, represented with 
the head of an asp, is common in the oldest temples. 
She was frequently employed as the nurse of young 
princes, whose early education is supposed to have 
been intrusted to her care, and she presided over 
gardens. The goddess Melsigor, or Mersokar, styled 
ruler of the West, or of Amenti, " the lower re- 
gions," was sometimes represented under the form 
of a winged asp. " The asp, also," says Mr. Wilkin- 
son, "was sacred to Neph ; and that deity, one of 
the eight greatest of the Egyptians, is frequently 
represented in the tombs, standing in a boat, with 
the serpent over him ; and he is not unfrequently 
seen with this emblem on his head without any other 
ornament."^ This serpent was the type of do- 




Asp-roRMED Crowns of Egypt. 

minion ; for which reason it was affixed to the head- 
dresses of the Egyptian monarchs ; and a prince, on 
his accession to the throne, was entitled to wear this 
distinctive badge of royalty, which, before the deatk 

• Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, i. 239. 

Vol. I.— 7 



50 SACRED REPTILES OF EGYPT. 

of his father, he was not authorized to adopt. Many 
other parts of the royal dresses were ornamented with 
the same emblem ; and the " asp-formed crowns," 
mentioned on the Rosetta stone, were exclusively ap- 
propriated to the kings and queens of Egypt. The 
asp also signified, in hieroglyphics, a goddess, and 
when opposed to the vulture, " the lower country ;" 
and it was given to Re, the physical sun, probably 
as an emblem of that dominion which he held over 
the universe, and from his character of prototype of 
the Pharaohs. 

Champ ollion says that " the name urceus, given to 
the snake, derives its origin from ouro, in Coptic a 
king."^ 

Herodotus says that " the horned snake was sa- 
cred to Amun, or Amun-Re, the Jupiter of Thebes, 
who was ' king of the gods,' and under the name 
Amunre he was the intellectual sun, distinct from 
Re, the physical orb."t 

Diodorus says that " the Egyptian and Ethiopian 
priests had asps coiled up in the caps they wore in 
religious ceremonies." 

Plutarch saysj that " the asp is worshipped, on ac- 
count of a certain resemblance between it and the 
operations of the Divine power : and being in no 
fear of old age, and moving with great facility, 
though it does not seem to enjoy the proper organs 
for motion, it is looked upon as a proper symbol 
of the stars." 

The asp was a reptile, however abominable and 

• ChampoUion, Pantheon, Nef. f Herodotus, i. 406. \ Plut. de Is., s. 7. 



SACRED REPTILES OF EGYPT. 51 

repulsive it. may appear to us, which enjoyed sacred 
honours throughout ancient Egypt. It is said to 
have been rendered so tame and docile by the care 
that was taken of it, that it lived in a state of harm- 
less quietude with the Egyptian children, and would 
come upon the table, w^hen called, to eat its food. 

Mr. Wilkinson says that the asp " was called 
Thermuthis, and with it the statues of Isis were 
crowned as with a diamond." — "Asp-formed crowns" 
are often sculptured on the heads of Egyptian dei- 
ties, " and the statues of the mother and wife of 
Amunoph, (the Vocal Memnon,) in the plain of 
Thebes, have crowns of this kind." This serpent is 
. said to have been " the. emblem of invincible power 
and royalty," and to have been worn in different col- 
ours, ornamenting the crowns of the kings and queens 
of Egypt. Mr. Wilkinson* quotes a story of ^lian, 
about a serpent " called Farias or Paruas, dedicated to 
Esculapius, and another which was sacred to the Egyp- 
tian Melite, which had priests and ministers, a table 
and a bowl. It was kept in a tower, and fed by priests 
with cakes made of flour and honey, which they 
placed there in the bowl. Having done this, they 
retired. The next day, on returning to the apart- 
ment, the food was found to be eaten, and the same 
quantity was again put into the bowl, for it was not 
lawful for any one to see the sacred reptile. On one 
occasion, a certain elder of the priests, being anxious 
to behold it, went in alone, and having deposited the 
cake, withdrew, until the moment when he supposed 

* Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians,'* Second Series, ii. 240. 



52 DANCING SNAKES OF INDIA. 

the serpent bad come forth to its repast. He then 
entered, throwmg open the door with great violence; 
upon which the serpent withdrew in evident indig- 
nation, and the priest became shortly after frantic ; 
and, having confessed his crime, expired/' 

In connexion with this subject, perhaps the read- 
er will not be displeased with the perusal of the 
following anecdotes of the dancing-snake of India, 
from a gentleman of high station in the Honourable 
Company's service at Madras : " One morning, as I 
sat at breakfast," relates this gentleman, " I heard a 
loud noise and shouting among my palanquin-bear- 
ers. On inquiry, I learned that they had seen a large 
hooded snake, and were trying to kill it. I imme- 
diately went out, and saw the snake crawling up a 
very high green mound, whence it escaped into a hole 
in an old wall of an ancient fortification. The men 
were armed with their sticks, which they always carry 
in their hands, and had attempted in vain to kill the 
reptile, which had eluded their pursuit, and coiled 
himself up securely in his hole, where we could dis- 
tinctly see the bright shining of his eyes. I had often 
desired to ascertain the truth of the report as to the ef- 
fect of music upon snakes : I therefore inquired for a 
snake-catcher. I was told there was no person of the 
kind in the village ; but after a little inquiry, I heard 
there was one in a village three miles distant. I accord- 
ingly sent for him, keeping strict watch over the 
snake, which never attempted to escape while we, his 
enemies, were in sight. About an hour elapsed, when 
my messenger returned, bringing a snake-catcher 



DANCING SNAKES OF INDIA. 53 

• 

This man wore no covering on his head, nor any on 
his person, excepting a small piece of cloth round 
his loins. He had in his hand two baskets, one con- 
taining some snakes, and one empty. These and his 
musical pipe were the only things he had with him. 
I made the snake-catcher leave his two baskets on 
the ground at some distance, while he ascended the 
mound with his pipe alone. He began to play : at 
the sound of music, the snake came gradually and 
slowly out of his hole. When he was entirely with- 
in reach, the snake-catcher seized him dexterously 
by the tail, and held him thus at arm's length ; while 
the snake, enraged, darted his head in all directions, 
but in vain. Thus suspended, he had not the power 
to raise himself so as to seize hold of his tormentor. 
He exhausted himself in vain exertions ; when the 
snake-catcher descended the bank, dropped him into 
the empty basket, and closed the lid. He then be- 
gan to play, and after a short time, raising the lid of 
the basket, the snake darted about wildly, and at- 
tempted to escape ; the lid was shut down again 
quickly, the music always playing. This was re- 
peated two or three times ; and, in a very short in- 
terval, the lid being raised, the snake sat on his tail, 
opened his hood, and danced as quietly as the tame 
snakes in the other basket ; nor did he again attefnpt 
an escape. This having witnessed with my own 
eyes, I can assert as a fact."* 

" The cabra de capella, or hooded-snake, is a large 
and beautiful serpent, but one of the most venomous. 

* Penny Magazine, No. 65, April, 1833. 



54 ^ DANCING SNAKES OF INDIA. 

It has the power of contracting or enlarging its hood 
the centre of which is marked in black and white, 
like a pair of spectacles, on which account it is called 
the spectacle snake. Of this kind are the dancing 
snakes, which are carried in baskets through Hin- 
dostan, and procure maintenance for a set of people 
who play a few simple notes on the flute, with which 
the snakes seem much delighted — and keep time by 
a graceful motion of the head, erecting about half 
their length from the ground, and following the music 
with gentle curves." — " Among my drawings," writes 
an Eastern traveller, "is that of a cabra de capella, 
which danced for an hour on the table, while I paint- 
ed it ; during which time I frequently handled it, to 
observe the beauty of the spots, and especially the 
spectacles on the hood, not doubting but that its ven- 
omous fangs had been previously extracted. But the 
next morning my upper servant came to me in great 
haste, and desired that I would instantly retire, and 
praise God for my good fortune. Not understanding 
his meaning, I told him that I had already performed 
my devotions. He then informed me, that while 
purchasing some fruit, he observed the man who had 
been with me on the preceding evening, entertaining 
the country-people with his dancing snakes. They, 
according to their usual custom, sat on the ground 
around him ; when, either from the music stopping 
too suddenly, or from some other cause irritating the 
vicious reptile, which I had so often handled, it dart- 
ed at the throat of a young woman, and inflicted a 
wound of which she died in about half an hour."* 

* Extracts of Travellers, p. 222. 



THE HORNED SNAKE. 55 

The domestic, or house-snake, is said to have been 
held in great estimation by the ancient Egyptians. 
This animal destroyed the rats, mice, and other an- 
noying vermin that collected in the dwellings and 
other houses of the inhabitants, and was used as an 
emblematical representation of eternity. Though 
greatly respected, it is said not to have been sacred 
to any of the deities of Egypt. Still it is sometimes 
seen in the mysterious subjects represented in the 
tombs. 

Mr. Wilkinson says that "the snakes in former 
times played a conspicuous part in the mysteries of 
religion ; many of the subjects in the tombs of the 
kings at TheTjes, in particular, show the importance 
it was thought to enjoy in a future state ;"* and 
iEHan mentions a " subterranean chapel and closet 
at each corner of the Egyptian temples, in which 
the Thermuthis asp was kept;"t thereby indicating 
the universal custom throughout the country of 
keeping a sacred serpent. 

Herodotus says that " in the environs of Thebes 
is a species of sacred snake, of a very small size, on 
whose head are two horns. They do no harm to 
man; and when they die, they are buried in the 
temple of Jupiter, to whom they are reputed to be 
sacred."! This horned serpent is said, however, to 
be very venomous, and is now often found in the 
valley of the Nile and in the desert. Instead of its 
being harmless to man, it is considered very danger- 
ous on account of its concealing itself in the sand, 

* Wilkinson's « Ancient Egyptians,' 2d Series, ii. 243. 
t-Slian, X. 31. J Herodotus, ii. 74, 



56 HONOURS PAID TO THE SNAKE. 

which it so nearly resembles in colour, that one is 
unaware of danger until it is often too late. 

The snake, in all ages of the world, seems, indeed, 
" to have played a conspicuous part." And while 
it has shared in the divine honours of some coun- 
tries, it has ever been held in the most abominable 
detestation and fear in others. Whether this enmity 
is all in consequence of the curse of God pronounced 
upon this odious creature, for insidiously beguiling 
Eve, and entailing upon mankind such a weight of 
sin, sorrow, and wo, as most people find upon their 
shoulders in this wicked world, or not, some may 
be inclined, perhaps, to doubt ; since the good 
understanding that has subsisted between the snake 
and its admirers se^ms to have been, with the an- 
cients, more a matter of taste and whim than any 
thing else, and is so among snake-fanciers at the 
present day. So that the " enmity" which God de- 
clared that He would " put between Eve and the 
serpent, and between her seed and his seed," seems 
not to have been an enmity that has not occa- 
sionally been broken in upon by friendship, respect, 
and adoration on the part of man toward this de- 
testable reptile. 

The serpent, however, was not always looked 
upon by the ancient Egyptians with the same kind 
of veneration ; for " some regarded it with un- 
bounded horrors." And " some religions have con- 
sidered it emblematical both of a good and a bad 
Deity." 

Isis, with " ten thousand other names," the wife of 



CAUSE OF CLEOPATRA'S CHOICE. 57 

Osiris, " the judge of the dead," had the title of 
Thermuthis, ''the giver of death" apphed to her; 
and it is said the latter name was given to the asp, 
or basilisk, with which the statues of Isis were 
crowned. 

Mr. Wilkinson sajs, that " Isis was more fre- 
quently worshipped as a deity in the temples of 
Egypt than Osiris, except in his mystical character."* 
If this he the case, this goddess, bearing the title of 
" the giver of death," synonymous with the word asp 
or basilisk, and "judge of the dead," whose statues 
were crowned with asps — must have been held in 
great veneration by the kings and queens of Egypt ; 
and may be the reason, perhaps, why the beautiful, 
but frail Cleopatra chose to yield her existence to 
the poisonous coils of the deadly asp, rather than 
fall into the victorious arms of Augustus. 

•Wilkinson's * Ancient Egyptians,' 2d Series, i. 366. 




The Coil op the Modeen Boa. 



Vol. I.— 8 



58 A NEW ACQUAINTANCE. 



CHAPTER V. 

A new Acquaintance. — Introduction to Jfehby Daood, — Cau- 
tion against making acquaintance with the Humbug Fam' 
ily in Egypt, — Mrs, Firkins and the Out-runners of the 
East. 8. Ride to the Baths of Cleopatra and the Catacombs. 

— An Egyptian Governor and his Footmen. — Almost a 
Disaster. — The Store-houses of the Pacha. — Arabs at 
Dinner. — Cause of the Egyptian Ophthalmia. — Manner 
of Eating in the East. — Deference observed toward the 
Master of the House. — Turkish Manner of Carving. — 
Mode of Cooking in Egypt. — Onions and Garlic. — Marks 
of Civility shown to Guests. — Beverage of the Egyptians. 

— Water of the JYile. — Contributions of the Pacha to the 
Grand Sultan of Turkey. — Water-carriers at the Tombs 
of the Saints. — Peasant-women and their Trinkets. — 
Wind-mills, and the way the Arabs carry Corn to Mill. — 
Women cleaning the Streets with their Hands. — Dog Pop- 
ulation, and their Manners and Customs, 

The next morning, when I came into the draw- 
ing-room, I found the doctor in conversation with a 
gentleman in an oriental cap and long beard, a coun- 
tryman of ours, whom I was much gratified to meet 
in that distant part of the world. 

This gentleman had been absent some years from 
the United States, and had travelled through Russia, 
Turkey, Syria, and Egypt. He communicated to 



INTRODUCTION TO NEBBY DAOOD. 59 

US manj items of valuable information respecting the 
manners and customs of the countries that we were 
about to visit. He particularly warned us against 
" scraping an acquaintance" with the different branch- 
es of the Humbug family, which he represented as 
being very numerous in all parts of the Levant. 

While we were engaged in conversation, we were 
joined by another American, of less prepossessing 
appearance at first glance, though there was that 
subdued and sad expression pervading his face, that 
could hardly fail to interest a stranger, and to excite 
a curiosity to know something of his history. 

His threadbare coat, broken out in several places, 
hung upon his shoulders as if it had been made for a 
figure of larger dimensions. His pantaloons, scarcely 
reaching down to his ankles, were rudely patched on 
the knees, and seemed ready to break down in other 
parts. His boots, patched in several places in their 
upper works, threatened a speedy dissolution of sole 
and body. His hat, split off from the crown, and 
running up to an uncouth height, was beaten in on 
one side, and evidently in the last state of decay. He 
had on a tattered waistcoat, and a little checked cra- 
vat ; and his new-cropped beard indicated a soapless 
shave, with a dull razor. 

Doleful as was the appearance of this individual, 
he was known and esteemed by the gentleman with 
whom we were in conversation, who had the good- 
ness to introduce us to Nebby Daood, from the State 
of Ohio. 

Poor Nebby Daood, a nick-name that some of his 



60 CATACOMBS OF ALEXANDRIA. 

friends had given him in the upper country, but for 
what reason I do not know, was born to a cheerless 
fortune. He appeared melancholy, and almost heart- 
broken. He said little, and seldom or never smiled. 

I felt touched and interested in him, and was con- 
fident that there was an under-current working in 
his soul, that few of the cold, selfish beings of the 
world would have the least curiosity in contempla- 
ting. A few words only, however, closed our inter- 
view ; and I parted with him, on his giving his 
promise to come and dine with me on that day at 
five o'clock. Indeed, I was almost sure of his punc- 
tual attendance, before I gave him the invitation ; 
for it is seldom that one is mortified with a refusal on 
such occasions by persons of Nebby's appearance. 

After we parted with Nebby, my wife and I got 
into the carriage with Mrs. Firkins, who had just 
driven up, with two out -runners, to take us to the 
baths of Cleopatra and the catacombs of Alexandria. 

I now for the first time witnessed a custom, which, 
in my subsequent wanderings, I found to be prevalent 
throughout the eastern countries, and is doubt- 
less a very old one — that of runners by the side, or 
before carriages ; after the manner, I suppose, of 
Elijah running before the chariot of Ahab.* Mrs. 
Firkins had two ; but I have seen as many as four, 
and even six of these runners attached to the skirts 
of a distinguished personage in the East, who never 
slacked the speed of his horse on account of the 
runners ; and they, bearing the pipe, tobacco, etc , of 

• 1 Kings xviii. 46. 



OUT-RUNNERS OF THE EAST. 



61 



their master, seem to endm-e the fatigue of running in 
this way at the top of their speed, for a long distance, 
without apparent inconvenience. 

These runners accompany individuals on horse- 
back, as well as in carriages. I recollect seeing the 
governor of a town in Upper Egypt mounted upon 
horseback, galloping at full speed, with no less than 




An Eastern Gentleman, with Out-runners. 



six running footmen, all of whom kept up with the 
horse. It was an animated sight. He was dressed 
in the gay costume of the country ; and his horse, 
a fine Arabian, richly caparisoned, bounded off beau- 
tifully over the plain, conscious, apparently, of the 
dignity and important character of his rider. 

In our case, there was little to boast of on the 
score of runners or carriage. The runners had 
scarcely a rag of clothes about them ; and the car- 



62 A RIDE OUT. 

riage was so miserably cramped, that it was next to 
impossible for more than two persons to sit in it. 
Consequently, 1 took my seat on the front part of 
the body, with my feet dangling down outside, and 
resting upon the shafts. In this agreeable position, 
the duty of driving the horse, which was rather a 
spirited one, was assigned to me ; while, " more for 
ornament than use," the two runners took up their 
positions on the sides of the vehicle : and in this 
manner we launched off, under a clear sky and burn- 
ing sun, for a further inspection of the antiquities 
and wonders of Alexandria. 

We had scarcely driven out of the great Eu- 
ropean Square, before I found myself somewhat in the 
unenviable state of mind of the gentleman who, on 
a certain occasion, was taking a nocturnal airing, 
borne along by his neighbours, in a state of nudity, 
upon a rail ; and being asked by some of his obhging 
friends around him how he liked it, replied that, " if 
it were not for the name of riding, he had much 
rather go on foot." 

This feeling was not much ameliorated by a cir- 
cumstance which occurred in attempting to descend 
a slight declivity in the road, when the carriage 
rushed quite on to the horse's heels, so nettling the 
noble animal as to threaten total destruction to the 
carriage, and broken limbs to ourselves. 1 did not 
fancy the prospect under that state of things at all ; 
and if it had not been for an appearance of incivility 
toward Mrs. Firkins, I certainly would have sent her 
and her horse, carriage, and Arab runners home, and 



ARABS AT DINNER. 



63 



taken donkeys. But, as it was, 1 got out of the car- 
riage, and proceeded to harness the horse sufficiently 
far forward to prevent it from striking his heels. 
This, however, was not accomplished without some 
difficulty, and coarse growling and sour looks 
from the Arab runners, who thought that I was 
interfering with their prerogative; and that, although 
I might drive the horse, yet I had no right to meddle 
with the harness, though my omitting to do so might 
cost me my neck. 1 differed from them in opinion. 
We did not, however, exchange many words upon 
the subject, but made up by looks and signs what 
we lost by not understanding each other's language. 




Arabs at Dinner. 



64 



STORE-HOUSES OF THE PACHA. 



En route, we passed the Pacha's storehouses of 
com, rice, cotton, and other productions of Egypt. 

A large number of Arabs in the Pacha's service 
were seated in front of the stores, eating their din- 
ner. They were in groups of about a dozen each, 
eating out of httle tubs, or earthen pots, with their 
fingers. They had neither knives nor forks. They 
all dipped their hands and fingers into the same 
dish, and enjoyed their meal as all people do who 
possess that great blessing, a good appetite. 

This is the universal manner of eating in Turkey, 
Syria, and Egypt, and was the same, doubtless, in 
the days of our Saviour, who said, on the night of 
the last supper, " He that dippeth his hand with me 
in the dish, the same shall betray me."* All classes 
of the Egyptians, Turks, and Syrians, eat in the 




Washing Hands before and after Meals. 
• Matthew xxvi. 23. 



MODE OF EATING IN TURKEY. 65 

same manner, seated on the floor, and around a 
tray or platter containing the food. 

It is the practice of the Eastern people to wash 
their hands before and after their meals, though 
they are not so particular about their faces ; which 
look as though their possessors had a natural hydro- 
phobia. This is one reason, I am inclined to think, 
why there are so many persons in that warm climate 
suffering with ophthalmia and almost total blindness. 

The faces of the Arabs are oft-times loathsome 
to look at, on account of the abominable filth that 
hangs about them. This is particularly the case 
with the children of the poorer classes, who are so 
neglected, that the flies, and sometimes other insects, 
gather on their faces and settle around their eyes in 
large clusters, where they remain undisturbed, poi- 
soning the eye, until they fly away of their own 
accord. 

The mode of eating in Turkey is generally con- 
ducted with great decorum, and with much deference 
to the master, or whomsoever presides over the repast 
though they all eat rather rapidly. The master of the 
house commences first, and the guests or other mem- 
bers of the family follow his example. The flowing 
sleeve of the right arm of each person is tucked up 
above the elbow, so as not to discommode the party 
or get besmeared in the dish. The dishes are gen- 
erally dressed so as to give no one any inconvenience 
in eating without a knife and fork. 

The^ dishes of the Arabs comprise, for the most 
part, stewed meats, with onions cut up fine, and 

VoL.1. — 9 



66 



ARAB MODE OF COOKING. 



sometimes other vegetables. Rice enters largely 
into the diet of the orientals. A favourite way 
of cooking lamb or mutton, is to cut it up in small 
bits, and roast it on skewers. They eat large quan- 
tities of vegetables, such as beans, peas, cabbage, 
spinage, onions, garlic, etc. Some dishes are com- 
posed of vegetables cooked in liquid butter. There 
are no hogs kept in Egypt, and they have little else 
to cook w^ith except the butter made from sheep, 
goat, and cows' milk, and being kept in the wann 
season in goat-skins, it runs like oil. 

The Arab mode of cooking is greasy, and their 
victuals unwholesome. Garlic or onions enter into 
the composition of almost every dish. I observed in 
Greece and Syria, as well as in Egypt, that the peo- 
ple were very fond of these vegetables, and they are 
frequently seen eating them raw in the streets, and 
about the market-places. The probability is, vhat 
they are relished with as good an appetite bj the 




An Ancient Priest of Egypt making an OrFEBiNO of Onions. 



ONIONS AND GARLIC. 67 

miserable inhabitants of Egypt at the present day, as 
thej were by their more refined ancestors ; who, ac- 
cording to some ancient writers, treated them as 
gods, when taking an oath — which circumstance 
laid them open to the ridicule of some, on account 
of their veneration for such odoriferous deities. 

Onions and garUc were sometimes forbidden to 
the ancient priests of Egypt ; though, according to 
Mr. Wilkinson,* they, together with other vegetables, 
were not forbidden to the generality of the people, 
to whom they were a principal article of food. 

The garlic and onions of Egypt must, no doubt, 
have been in a high state of perfection in the days 
of Moses, and in great repute among his murmuring 
and disobedient hosts, or they would not probably 
have troubled their leader so much for bringing them 
out from serving the Egyptians, and away from their 
flesh-pots, where " they did eat bread to the full." 
For they said, in their murmurings, " We remem- 
ber the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely; the 
cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the 
onions, and the garlic."\ 

* Wiikinjicn's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, First Se- 
ries, ii. 374. — " The onions of Egypt were mild and of an excellent flavour, 
and were eaten crude as well as cooked, by persons both of the higher and 
lower classes ; but it is difficult to say if they brought them to table like the 
cabbage, as a hors d'auvre, to stimulate the appetite, which Socrates recom- 
mends in the Banquet of Xenophon. On this occasion, some curious rea- 
sons are brought forward for their use by diiferent members of the party. 
Nicerates observes that onions relish well with wine, and cites Homer in 
support of his remark. Callias affirms that they inspire courage in the hour 
of battle; and Charmides suggests their utility in deceiving a jealous wife, 
who, finding her husband return with his breath smelling of onions, would be 
induced to believe he had not saluted any one while from home ." 

t Numbers xi. 5. 



68 BEVERAGE OF THE EGYPTIANS. 

The Arabs seldom or never touch their food with 
the left hand ; and when a fowl or turkey is to be 
separated, it is frequently performed by the right 
hands of two persons sitting near together ; though 
some of them are so expert in this mode of carving, 
as to dissect a fowl very handsomely with the right 
hand alone. 

Should the master of the tal)le select any particu- 
larly nice bit of meat and offer it to a guest, it is 
considered a mark of great civility, and should be 
received in one's mouth from his fingers. 

The Arabs have a great variety of dishes, and 
sometimes get up a whole sheep, lamb, or kid, stuffed 
with onions, garlic, pistachio-nuts, etc. These, how- 
ever, are never polluted by the sordid touch of iron 
or steel after they are brought to table ; but, like the 
boned fowl, are separated with the right hand by the 
master of the repast, assisted occasionally by one or 
more of the guests. It is a greasy business, as one 
may well enough judge ; but when their hands are 
washed, it is all over. There are no knives and 
forks, and no plates, to clean. 

The usual beverage of the Egyptians is the water 
of the Nile ; and a more delicious or more healthful 
beverage cannot be found, I think, in the world. Its 
colour is not very tempting, at first, being of a dark 
yellow, and generally rather deeply charged with 
small particles of vegetable matter. It is not always 
drunk in this turbid state, though no injury whatever 
results to one from drinking it freely before it is set- 



THE WATER OF THE Nn.E. 69 

tied, and many travellers prefer it fresh-dipped from 
the Nile. 

The Egyptians say, " if the Prophet had drunk of 
the water of the Nile, he would have lived for ever." 
This may be doubted ; yet I have no doubt if he 
could have obtained plenty of that delicious water 
to drink through life, instead of the stagnant water 
from the brackish springs and pools of the desert, 
that the old Prophet would have held on to existence 
somewhat longer than he did. 

In our journey through the desert, we carried a 
supply of the Nile water ; and when we arrived at 
Mount Sinai, we had several gallons of it left in a 
barrel, which was then as pure and delicious as 
when we left Cairo, if not more so ; while the water 
that we filled our goat-skins and barrel with at Mount 
Sinai, though pure, cold, and delightful to the taste 
when we set out for Akaba, soon changed, and that 
in the skins, after two or three days, was not fit to 
drink. 

A supply of the Nile water for the use of the Grand 
Seignior, is included among the yearly contributions, 
of the Pacha of Egypt to the Sultan of Turkey. 
The Nile water is generally distributed about the 
streets of Cairo and Alexandria by water-carriers 
from goat-skins, brought from the river on the backs 
of camels or donkeys ; though some of these sackckas, 
as they are called, being too poor to own those use- 
ful animals, bring their goat-skins full from the Nile 
on their backs — in which case, they generally do 
business in a small way, and distribute water to per- 



70 



WATER-CARRIERS. 



sons to drink in the streets. Their usual cry is — 
" Oy may God compensate me .'" They hold a cup in 
one hand, and the mouth of the water-skin in the 
other ; and while their customers are drinking, they 
keep up an invitation to the thirsty to come and 
partake of their water. 




Water-carriers. 

Water-carriers are numerous on all festive occa- 
sions, and during great religious ceremonies. Some 
are hired by the more conscientious and faithful, to 
distribute water gratis on religious fetes to all who de- 
sire to drink. This charity is generally performed in 
honour of some saint ; and the carrier, as he raises 
the welcome cry to the thirsty, of water "without 
money and without price," invokes the blessings of 
Heaven upon the soul of his employer, who thus 
freely quenches the thirst of a fainting being. 

None can appreciate the worth of this wholesome 



SCARCITY OF WATER. 



71 




Water-carrieb at the Tombs. 

and delightful beverage so well as a person of the 
desert — one who has travelled in the burning heat 
of those arid regions for days without tasting fresh 
water, and perhaps without water of any kind. 

The people of the eastern countries have always 
been, more or less frequently, in their intercourse 
with distant parts, exposed to privations of this kind 
— a circumstance which must have given additional 
force to the invitation of out* Saviour : " In the last 
day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, 
If any man thii-st, let him come unto me and drink. 
He that belie veth on me, as the Scripture hath said, 
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."* 
And also to the words of the prophet : f " Ho, every 
one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he 
that hath no money ; come ye, buy, and eat ; yea, 

* John vii. 37, 38. f Isaiah Iv. 1 . 



i§ ORNAMENTS OF WATER-CARRIERS. 

come, buy wine and milk without money and without 
price." And again, the following : " For the Lord 
thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of 
brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring 
out of valleys and hills."* And among the bitter ac- 
cusations brought against Job by his friends, in the 
days of his affliction, Eliphaz says: "Thou hast 
not given ivater to the weary to drink, and thou hast 
withholden bread from the hungry."! But the Scrip- 
tures are full of illustrations of this kind; and in 
no country, perhaps, in the w^orld, could the idea 
of water, emblematically used, have such force and 
meaning, as in the land of the Bible and of the proph- 
ets. When God wished to make a great moral im- 
pression upon the murmuring Israelites, he com- 
manded Moses to bring water from the rock. J 

The peasant-women are the water-carriers for 
their own family uses in the East, particularly in 
Egypt. They come down from the villages along 
the Nile, in great numbers, generally toward evening, 
and wade into the river a few steps, dip their water- 
pots, and bear them off upon their heads to their 
houses. 

On these occasions, especially toward evening, I 
always observed that they wore a greater profusion 
of trinkets and rude jewellery than ordinarily ; though 
it is the custom of the eastern women, among the 
lower classes, to carry their fortunes upon their backs, 
head, face, and hands. 

The masks, which the Turkish and Arab women 

• Deut. viii. 7. f Job xxii. 7. t Numbers xx. 8. 



DRINKS OF THE ARABS. 73 

generally wear, are frequently covered with little 
gold pieces of money, from their eyes down to a con- 
siderable distance below the chin. This, of course, 
depends upon the riches of the wearer; and some 
can only afford to wear silver pieces, and very few^ 
of them, while others have none at all. This is a 
kind of sign hung out to indicate the flourishing con- 
dition of the person making the display ; though, 
when occasion requires, these bits of money are 
taken off, and circulated in the market as readily as 
other coins, that have never been so distinguished. 
The consequence is, that most of the small gold and 
silver coins of the East are pierced with holes, that 
have been made in them for the purpose of fastening 
them upon the masks and dresses of the women. 

The Jewish women, also, of the East, who do not 
wear masks, hang their gold and silver coins about 
their necks. I have seen some of them so deeply 
loaded as to be fairly encumbered with their wealth, 
though that is not a very common thing among them. 

The custom of wearing ornaments, among the 
water-carriers of the Nile is no doubt a very old 
one, and may be traced back further, perhaps, than 
the time of Rebekah, when she came forth, with or- 
naments, to draw water.* 

The Arabs have other drinks than water alone — 
such as sherbet of various kinds, coffee, beer, and 
sometimes wines ; though this last, being a prohibited 
beverage, is rarely taken in public, if at all, by the 
faithful. Coffee is always passed round to guests, 

* Gen. xxiv. 30. 

Vol. L— 10 



74 CLEAMNG THE STREETS. 

after sherbet and pipes, among the Arabs, as well as 
by the Syrians and Turks, all of whom seem to be 
exceedingly hospitable. 

But to return to the great store-houses of the 
Pacha, which are not quite so extensive, probably, as 
were Pharaoh's, in the sunny times of Joseph, though 
there appeared to be no lack of corn in Egypt even 
in these degenerate days. And the Arabs were en- 
gaged in carrying it from the Pacha's granary to his 
wind-mills, about two hundred of which stood along 
upon the beach, overlooking the sea, near by, and 
giving to that quarter a very singular appearance. 

The loose and wasteful manner in which the sim- 
ple process of carrying corn to mill was conducted 
by these loyal subjects of the Pacha, who, it is said, 
work for nothing and board themselves, illustrated, 
clearly enough to our minds, that very little regard 
was paid to economy in point of time, or the saving 
of corn. 

An Arab with a little loose basket, holding scarce- 
ly twenty quarts, started off at a lazy walk from the 
granary, strewing the corn by the way at every step, 
till he reached the mill. This seemed to excite no 
surprise, as it was a common thing among them all ; 
so that they literally walked upon a bed of corn from 
the store-houses to the mills. 

The streets had become excessively muddy, from 
the powerful rains that had been pouring down in 
floods the day before ; and we observed, as we drove 
along, crowds of Arab women and children scraping 
up the mud in the streets with their hands, collecting 



DOGS OF ALEXANDRIA. 75 

it into baskets, pots, pails, and any thing else that 
they could get for the purpose, and bearing it off 
upon their heads. 

This to me was a novel mode of cleaning streets, 
and I observed to Mrs. Firkins, that it was really a 
pity that those poor creatures should be obliged to 
clear the streets of the mud and filth with no other 
implements than their bare hands; I thought the 
Pacha ought at least to furnish them with hoes, wood- 
en shovels, or something of the kind, to save their 
hands from such rude and hard usage. 

" O !" says Mrs. Firkins, " those women were never 
so happy in all their lives. They look upon that 
mud, which they are scraping up with their hands 
and bearing off upon their heads, as a kind of God- 
send, somewhat with the same kind of pleasure, per- 
haps, with which the children of Israel gathered the 
manna in the desert." 

" How is that V said I ; " are they not cleaning the 
streets for the Pacha 1" 

" Cleaning the streets for the Pacha !" replied Mrs. 
Firkins — " nobody ever heard of such a thing. The 
Pacha never has the streets cleaned. There are no 
street-sweepers or scavengers in Alexandria, except 
those evil-looking dogs that you see lying about the 
streets, so much to the annoyance of every body." 

" Why," said I to Mrs. Firkins, " do they not de- 
stroy those dirty dogs, or compel their masters to 
take care of them, and keep them out of the way V* 

" Masters !" said Mrs. Firkins, " they have no mas- 
ters: and a Turk or Mussulman would no sooner 



76 DOGS OF EGYPT. 

kill a dog than he would put a knife to his own 
throat. Consequently the dogs roam about the 
streets from one year's end to the other, gathering up 
such bits of meat as are thrown out from the butch- 
ers' stalls, and other garbage, with an occasional 
crust from some who take pity upon them, subsisting 
in that way, without house, home, or master, through 
their whole lives. The only provision that is made 
for the dogs at the public expense, is a supply of wa- 
ter which a carrier is paid for putting into the dog- 
troughs. That service is defrayed by a contribu- 
tion on the part of the inhabitants in the neighbour- 
hood where these troughs are established. What 
is a little curious, these dogs form themselves into 
clans, or companies, for mutual protection. Each 
of these clans confines its operations to a particu- 
lar section of the city, and seldom or never leaves it; 
while a strange dog, who dares to show his head in 
the precincts of its jurisdiction, is sure to fare roughly, 
if he even escapes with his life." 

This struck us at the time as being a singular trait 
in the manners and customs of the Egyptian dogs ; 
and a droll whim on the part of the people, who 
suffered the canine race to go on in that sluggish and 
useless way, without insisting upon a reform. We 
found, on visiting other towns, that it was no pecu- 
liarity of Alexandria; but, on the contrary, there 
were fewer houseless dogs in that city, doing business 
on their own account, than in almost any town, in 
proportion to its inhabitants, that we visited in the 
Turkish dominions. 



DOG POPULATION OF CAIRO. 



77 




CHAPTER VI. 



Bog-matical Chapter. — Dog Population of Turkey. — Con- 
dition of the Dogs not likely to be improved by the inter- 
ference of the " Great Powers.*' — Dog Funeral. — Dogs 
accounted among the Sacred Animals of Ancient Egypt. — 
" Every Dog has his day.^' — Heads and Bodies shaved at the 
death of a Dog. — Civil War on account of the Sacred Dogs 
of Egypt. — Condition of ancient and modem Dogs con- 
trasted. — Byron's Dog, and the Dog of Frederick the Great. 
— Declining condition of the Dogs of Egypt since the Persian 
Conquest. — Sacred Ox Apis killed, a7id his blood given to 
the Dogs. — Arabs' Houses built of the Mud gathered from 
the Streets. — Domestic Felicity. — An Arab whipping his 
Wife. — How to make an Impression in Egypt. — Advice 
of the American Consul. — Description of the Catacombs, 
and the Baths of Cleopatra. 

The dog population of Cairo is much greater 
than that of Alexandria, and the dogs seemed to be 
nearly as badly off there as the poor Jews — per- 
haps scarcely more respected; while at Jerusalem, 
Smyrna, and Constantinople, they appeared to be 



78 CONDITION OF THE DOGS. 

sufficiently numerous, under proper organization, 
to sweep all before them, and to devour, without 
respect to persons or sects, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, 
Christians, CathoUcs, Turks, and Dervishes. They 
really exist in those cities to a most frightful extent ; 
and in the evening, without a military escort of at 
least one or two armed janizaries with lanterns, it 
were unsafe for a stranger to walk the streets. 

The dogs seldom or never molest the Turks, and 
persons in the oriental costume ; but it is far from 
being always safe for a Frank to perambulate the 
streets undisguised. 

Formerly, the Franks had not only the prejudices 
of the dogs to bear up against, in their wanderings 
through the Turkish dominions, but the Turks them- 
selves would sometimes join in the attacks. This 
bitteriiess, however, on the part of the Moslem 
towards the " Christian dogs," as they used to call 
the Franks, has been gradually wearing away ever 
since the winding up of the crusades ; and I believe 
the interference of the " Great Powers" in all East- 
ern matters, during the last few years, has quite in- 
clined the Turk to look upon Europeans rather 
moro favourably. However, the Moslem hatred 
towards Christians rankles in the breasts of their 
dogs ; whose condition, so far as I have been able to 
learn, has been very little improved by this inter- 
ference of the Allied Powers in Eastern questions, 
in order, as is avowed, to maintain the balance of 
power. It still remains a question with many, 
whether the dogs, after all, have not about as much 



A DOG FUNERAL. 79 

reason to be thankful for what has been done for 
their country by European arms and diplomacy, 
as the Syrians and Egyptians, or even the Turks 
themselves. 

Although there are dogs enough, one would think, 
in the streets of every Turkish town to satisfy the 
most enthusiastic admirer of that animal, (that is, so 
far as numbers are concerned,) yet the Moslems 
sometimes rear them in their houses, and treat them 
with the greatest care and tenderness. 

Mr. Lane, in his account of the manners and cus- 
toms of the modern Egyptians, says " that a woman 
in Cairo, who had neither husband nor child to sol- 
ace her, made a companion of her dog. Death took 
this her only associate away ; and in her grief and 
her affection for it, she determined to bury it, and 
not merely to commit it to the earth without cere- 
mony, but to inter it as a Moslem, in a respectable 
tomb in the cemetery of the Imam Esh-Shafeel* 
which is regarded as especially sacred. 

" She washed the dog, according to the rules pre- 
scribed to be observed in the case of a deceased 
Moslem ; wrapped it in handsome grave-clothes; 
seiit for a bier and put it in ; then hired several wail- 
ing women, and, with them, performed a regular 
lamentation. This done, (but not without exciting 
the wonder of her neighbours, who could not con- 
jecture what person in her house was dead, yet 
would not intrude, because she never associated with 
them,) she hired a number of chanters to head the 
funeral procession, and school-boys to sing and carry 



80 DOG FUNERALS. 

the Koran before the bier; and the train went 
forth in respectable order, herself and the hired wail- 
ing-women following the bier, and rending the air 
with their shrieks. But the procession had not ad- 
vanced many steps, when one of the female neigh- 
bours ventured to ask the afflicted lady who the 
person was that was dead, and was answered, ' It is 
my child.' The inquirer charged her with uttering 
a falsehood ; and the bereaved lady confessed that it 
was her dog, begging, at the same time, that her in- 
quisitive neighbour would not divulge the secret; 
but for an Egyptian woman to keep a secret, and 
such a secret, was impossible ; it was immediately 
made known to the bystanders, and a mob, in no 
good humour, soon collected, and put an end to the 
funeral. The chanters, and the singing-boys, and 
the wailing-women, as soon as they had secured 
their money, vented their rage against their employer 
for having made fools of them ; and, if the poHce 
had not interfered, she would probably have fallen a 
victim to popular fury." 

There is a case, somewhat similar, mentioned by 
D'Herbelot, of a Turk who buried a dog, which 
was a great favourite, with the honours usually ob- 
served at the funeral of a Moslem, though in his 
own garden, and was charged with the offence and 
brought before the cka'dee. Here the Turk slipped 
through the fingers of justice, by saying to the cka'- 
dee that the dog had made his will previous to his 
death, and left his honour a handsome sum of 
money. 



DOGS ACCOUNTED SACRED ANIMALS. 81 

The fact is, dogs have wondrously lost favour 
with the Egyptians w^ithin the last three thousand 
years or so, and have been going dow^n hill in the 
estimation of the people of that country ever since 
the mischief that Cambyses did there. He unsettled 
every thing ; overturned the gods, and killed the ox 
Apis, of w^hose flesh the dogs w^ere tempted to taste : 
whereupon they fell from that pure state in which, 
till then, they had stood, and which, with all their 
privation and penance since, they have never been 
able to regain. Before that act of folly and unpar- 
donable sin on the part of those foolish Egyptian 
dogs, they were numbered among the sacred animals ; 
and, equally with the present race of European 
kings and princes, enjoyed the highest honours, and 
by " divine right." 

The lamentable business of tasting the blood of 
the sacred ox, brought a weight of misfortunes and 
degradation upon the poor dogs, that they will hard- 
ly shake off, I apprehend, in their degenerate state, 
until the dissolution of the Turkish empire. 1 do 
not know what provision is contemplated by the 
" great powers," in that event, for these poor, degra- 
ded animals ; or whether, among the fragments of the 
wreck, they will get a bone to pick or not. It is 
very doubtful, in my mind, whether they will rise into 
that third heaven with the European cutters and 
diplomatic carvers of nations and kingdoms, which 
they enjoyed under the ancient dynasties of the 
kings of Egypt ; when, as we are told, they took an 

Vol. I. — 11 



82 CEREMONIES ON THE DEATH OF A DOG. 

honourable stand in church and state through life, 
and were handsomely embalmed after death. 

These were honours, almost worth living a dog's 
life to enjoy ; honours, to which few of the po- 
litical dogs of our day will or can attain. They 
may stand high enough in the state, and lead the 
church by the nose, it is true ; but the real old Egyp- 
tian embalming of their worthless carcasses, after 
death, they cannot obtain, for love, gold, or political 
favour. The art of embalming is lost, probably for 
ever. 

As an illustration of the distinguished position oc- 
cupied by the ancient dogs of Egypt, previously to the 
Persian conquest, it may not be amiss to quote a line 
or two from Mr. Wilkinson and others, who, I think, 
may be considered very good authority upon all mat- 
ters touching the manners and customs of the ancient 
Egyptians. 

Mr. Wilkinson says, that " whenever one of these 
animals died a natural death, all the inmates of the 
house shaved their heads and their whole bodies ; and 
if any food, whether wine, corn, or any thing else, 
happened to be in the house at the time, it was for- 
bidden to be applied to any use. The dog was held 
in great veneration in many parts of Egypt, particu- 
larly at the city of Cynopolis, where it was treated 
with divine honours." 

Strabo tells us that "a stated quantity of provision 
was always supplied by the inhabitants of Cynopolis 
for their favourite animals; and so tenacious were 
they of the respect due to them, that a civil war 



CONDITION OF MODERN DOGS. 83 

raged for some time between them and the people 
of Oxyrhinchus, in consequence of the latter's having 
killed and eaten them." 

Herodotus says, speaking of the ancient Egyp- 
tians, and their mode of burying their dogs, that 
"every one inters them in his own town, where 
they are deposited in sacred chests." 

" We are told," says Mr. Wilkinson, " that, having 
been perfectly prepared by the embalmers of ani- 
mals, and wrapped in linen, they were deposited in the 
tombs allotted to them, the bystanders beating them- 
selves in token of grief, and uttering lamentations in 
their honour." 

So we see that, in those good old Egyptian times, 
it was something to be even a " dead dog ;" for then, 
" every dog had his day." 

Under the degenerate Turks and Arabs, how 
strangely the Ibt of the dogs has changed ! They 
are not only obliged to lead a houseless, vagabond 
kind of life, suffering all manner of reproach, degra- 
dation, and want ; but after death, they are denied the 
rites of sepulture, and the benefit of clergy ! — and so 
unclean are they supposed to be, by many of those 
spotless Moslems of the East, that, " should they, 
by chance, happen to touch the nose or wet hairs of 
the poor animal, they would consider themselves de- 
filed, and bound to submit to purification from the 
contact." 

The old idolatrous Egyptians can hardly claim the 
exclusive honour of burying their dogs in a handsome 
manner What has been done^ however, in that way,. 



81 DOGS OF DISTINGUISHED MEN. 

since tlieir time, must be considered merely a faint 
imitation of their more enthusiastic virtue and hber- 
ahty, as exhibited in their unfeigned grief and sorrow 
at the death of those faithful animals, and the pom- 
pous ceremonial observed at their funerals. 

Byron buried one of his dogs very handsomely, 
and wrote some pathetic verses over his grave. 
And " Frederick the Great," king of Prussia, interred 
as many as three of his dogs in front of Sans Souci, 
one of his most favourite palaces, whose graves are 
always pointed out to strangers, as being among the 
great things to be seen at Potsdam. 

Other eminent instances of distinguished individ- 
uals of modern times might be enumerated, in which 
a proper respect has been paid to dogs after death, 
were it necessary ; but I think enough has already 
been said upon the subject to illustrate the present 
wretched condition of the poor dogs in Egypt, con- 
trasted with the elevated rank which they held in that 
delightful country among the ancients ; and besides, 
I must go back and pick up my wife and Mrs. Fir- 
kins, whom I left in the mud, impatient for my 
return. 

" If these women and children," said I to Mrs. Fir- 
kins, " are not cleaning the streets for the Pacha, 
what in the world are they doing ?" 

" O, my dear sir," replied Mrs. Firkins, " they are 
working on their own account — gathering mud with 
which to build their houses. Oftentimes," she con- 
tinued, " they are obliged to bring the water a con- 
siderable distance upon their heads, to mix with the 



MUD HOUSES. • 85 

dirt, and make mud for themselves. But now, hav- 
ing the mud ah*eady made to their hands, tiiey are 
very happy — and go on with their houses famously." 

" Indeed !" said I ; " and really one half of the 
world not only does not know what the other half 
is about, but the probability is, that more than one 
half of those things which are looked upon by a ma- 
jority of mankind as hardships and evils, afflicting 
others, are, after all, but pastimes and pleasures." 

It would not be an easy matter, perhaps, to a per- 
son used to no other than the rugged climate of our 
country, or that of the north of Europe, to conceive 
the possibility of erecting any thing like a substantial 
and comfortable house with mud alone. Yet, even 
here in Lower Egypt, where, as we have already 
seen, the rain does not spare them much at certain 
seasons of the year, the Arabs contrive to dare the 
storm and tempest in their houses erected of this 
humble and easily-dissolved material. In Upper 
Egypt, where it seldom or never rains, houses made 
from the mud of the Nile, if properly taken care of, 
will last for many generations. In fact, in many vil- 
lages in the upper country, along the banks of the 
Nile, no other composition enters into the walls of 
any of their buildings. They also build the walls of 
their towns of the same unburnt mud of the Nile. 
And I recollect seeing the high and thick walls of 
some of the ancient towns of Upper Egypt, which 
are supposed to be thousands of years old, built of 
the same material, and now stand in a very good 
state of preservation. 



86 . AN ARAB WHIPPING HIS WIFE. 

As we passed by these women, and drove along 
moderately, we soon came to a large gathering of 
half-naked people of all sexes, shapes, and colours, 
who were standing around a poor woman, with her 
hands tied behind her, and looking on very indif- 
ferently, while a large, ugly Arab was whipping 
her with a corbash in the most cruel and unfeeling 
manner. We supposed that this woman was a 
criminal, suffering the penalty of some offence, and 
that the man who had tied her up, and was then lay- 
ing on the whip so lustily over her back and shoul- 
ders, was the proper officer, appointed by the Pacha 
to perform this disagreeable duty upon his subjects 
who may occasionally commit certain heinous crimes 
against his decrees. Judge of our astonishment, 
when, upon inquiring into the occasion of this pub- 
lic whipping, we were told by one of the bystanders, 
that " it was only a man whipping his wife !" which 
was a mere matter of every-day occurrence. I ex- 
pressed my surprise to Mrs. Firkins at a state of 
things so revolting to humanity, and told her I had 
not supposed it possible that such abominable out- 
rages and cruelties on the part of a man toward his 
wife could be tolerated in any country. 

" Why," said Mrs. Firkins, " nothing is more com- 
mon in Egypt than for a man to whip his wife. I 
inquired of one of my neighbours, the other day, how 
his wife did. * O,* says he, * she is very well, very 
well indeed : I gave her a sound drubbing a few days 
ago, and she has been very good ever since.' " 

Mrs. F. continued : " The Egyptians must be 



CURIOUS IDEA OF WHIPPING. 87 

whipped pretty often, or there is no getting on with 
them at all. When the corbash is used freely, there 
is no difficulty, and they go on famously." 

"Indeed!" 

" Yes," replied Mrs. Firkins, " and they expect to 
be whipped — and are not satisfied unless they get 
well dressed down, once or twice, and sometimes 
oftener, each month. And servants, who do not get 
whipped occasionally, think that they do not give 
satisfaction, and that their masters are displeased 
with them," 

" Curious idea, certainly," said I. 

" Yes, it may appear so to you, perhaps, as you 
have just come into Egypt ; but, upon my word," said 
she, " no longer ago than last evening, Mr. Sneeze- 
biter said to me that his old servant Ali came 
to him the day before, and said he wanted to go 
away. * Why,' says Mr. Sneezebiter, * what in the 
world do you want to go away for ? You have very 
little to do, except to feed the sei*pents and water 
the lizards. I'm sure you cannot be so well off 
any where else.' — *Why,' says Ali, *I don't give 
satisfaction, and I can't bear to live at a place where 
this is not the case.' — * Satisfaction !' said Mr. 
Sneezebiter, *I'm perfectly satisfied with you. How 
did you get a notion into your head that I was dis- 
satisfied with youf — * Why,' says Ali, *you have 
never whipped me, and I supposed you were dis- 
pleased with me, of course.' " 

Whipping appeared to us to be a strange way of 
expressing one's approbation of the faithful labours of 



88 ADVICE OF THE AMERICAN CONSUL. 

a good old servant ; but I have learned, from other 
sources than Mrs. Firkins, that many Europeans who 
go into Egypt think the better way is to make an 
impression at once ; and that entitles them to obe- 
dience and respect on the part of the people ever 
afterward. Such, as I was informed, was the advice 
of the American consul to a clergyman from the Uni- 
ted States, who, after completing his arrangements to 
ascend the Nile, asked the consul what was the best 
mode to adopt for the management of the sailors of 
his boat 1 

" Why," says the consul, " the better way is, to 
pick a quarrel with them the first or second day out, 
and whip all hands. That will establish your au- 
thority over the crew, and ensure a prosperous and 
an agreeable voyage." 

But let us drive on to the catacombs and baths of 
the beautiful Queen of Egypt. The dogs, women, 
etc, have detained us too long by the way. 

The catacombs are about three miles from the 
centre of the city, and quite out of the modern town 
of Alexandria, near the seashore. Still, in the whole 
distance of the drive, we were passing over the scat- 
tered remains of the ancient city, which extend far 
beyond, in all directions. It is not known, at the 
present day, where the original entrance to these 
catacombs was ; nor is it scarcely possible to form a 
conjecture, with any degree of certainty, in regard 
to their extent. They are cut in the solid rock, but 
so choked up with sand and other rubbish that the 
main entrance has long since been lost sight of, and 



DESCRIPTION OF THE CATACOMBS. 89 

many of the chambers are quite inaccessible. We 
entered, with our torches, by a low, dark passage, 
broken in, on the side next the sea. The passage 
was so cramped and low, that it was scarcely pos- 
sible to effect an entrance even on one's hands and 
knees. 

After groping our way in that manner for the dis- 
tance of some hundreds of feet, we came into a 
temple, in the Grecian style of architecture, of large 
dimensions. The principal hall of the temple had 
a concave roof, handsomely chiselled ; and it opened 
out, on three sides, into smaller chambers, finished 
and roofed in the same manner as that of the prin- 
cipal room of the temple, and having in each, 
on three of their sides, handsome alcoves, or recesses 
for sarcophagi. The whole plan, arrangement, and 
finish of the principal hall of the temple and the 
adjoining chambers were neat, pleasing, and effective. 
The bottom, however, of these subterraneous halls 
is so filled up with sand and rubbish, that they could 
not have appeared in any thing like their pristine 
elegance and grandeur. 

There were numerous other chambers opening in 
various directions along the passages, but they were 
all choked with rubbish nearly to their roofs ; so 
that we found an attempt to explore them quite use- 
less. On coming out of these subterraneous tem- 
ples of worship and sepulture, for which purposes 
they were no doubt originally constructed, we walked 
down to the sea- shore, to look into what are now 
called the " baths of Cleopatra." These are small 

Vol. L— 12 



90 THE BATHS OF CLEOPATRA. 

chambers, cut in the soHd rock, Hke the rooms in 
the catacombs, but so broken down that the sea now 
rushes into them, and dashes about at will. Some 
of them, however, are in a state of considerable pre- 
servation ; though they are all small, and have no 
appearance of ever having been constructed with 
much elegance or taste. In these baths the beau- 
tiful queen, whose personal charms fascinated and 
turned the heads of some of the greatest and mighti- 
est men of her time, may have bathed her enamelled 
limbs ; although of that fact, in these skeptical and 
degenerate days, many doubts have been expressed. 



A Female entebing a Bath. 



STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 91 



CHAPTER VII. 

Incidental Story of JYebby Baood, an eccentric Backwoodsman 
of the United States, travelling in Egypt, — His Reserve, 
and his Imfressions of Mankind. — The Object of JYebby^ s 
Wanderings, — His Desire for Foreign Travel. — Scenes of 
his Youth. — JYebby^ s Passion for Books and Thirst for 
Knowledge. — " Town Library ^Association.'' — Difficulties 
encountered, andfnal Success. — Leaves his Father^ s House 
and goes to JVew York. — Journey, and Arrival in the City, 
— JYebby^s Impressions. — Desolation of his Feelings. — 
JYebby among the Speculators of Wall-street. — Halts be- 
tween two Opinions. — Slips through the Fingers of the 
Speculators, with the Loss of their Friendship. — r JYebby's 
Ignorance of the World, — Meets with a Disaster and breaks 
his Leg. — His Recovery, and Departure for England, 

Precisely as we had supposed, Nebby was punc- 
tual to the time, and ready for dinner the moment it 
was announced. Indeed, he had anticipated our 
arrival by a few moments, and had been waiting our 
return to the hotel. This we construed, on the part 
of Nebby, into a piece of true politeness and good- 
breeding ; though I am aware how much at variance 
it is with the etiquette observed by some sprigs of 
fashionable society, by whom it would be considered 
a breach of politeness, if not, in fact, an act of 
downright vulgarity, to keep one*s promises under 
jsiny circumstances. 



92 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

We were in hopes to have the pleasure of 
the company of Mr. and Mrs. Firkins also ; but an 
engagement on that day with the Wrinkleboltoms, 
w^here they were to meet Mr. Sneezebiter and a 
large party of Enghsh ladies and gentlemen, just ar- 
rived in Alexandria by the overland conveyance 
from India — deprived us of that honour. 

As it was, our party was small, but very select, 
comprising only our good friend the doctor, Nebby 
Daood, Mrs. C. and myself. 

Dinner being announced, Nebby laid away his 
beaver, and handed Mrs. C. down to dinner — if not 
in the most courtly, certainly in a pleasing and ac- 
ceptable manner. 

We took seats at table, and the time passed quietly 
away with the soup and the first courses. 

Nebby was reserved at first, and only replied to 
inquiries, and then in general terms. He was re- 
spectful, however, and appeared more inclined to feel 
his way along than to dash off obtrusively into con- 
versation, before ascertaining what kind of ground 
he stood upon, and whether he was actually among 
friends, who were capable of fairly appreciating him 
and his peculiarities, or more doubtful characters, 
who had invited him to dinner merely for their own 
amusement. Nebby had sense enough to discern 
that the world paid him no respect on account of 
rich relations, his own wealth, titles, good looks, or 
fine clothes. These shining qualifications, too, Nebby 
knew, were quite sufficient, frequently, to introduce 
the merest popinjays into what is termed by the fash- 



THE OBJECT OF HIS TRAVELS. 93 

ionable world the highest circles; .although the in- 
dividuals thus honoured, deprived of their tinsel 
and exterior circumstances, might be little better' 
than " sounding brass and tinkling cymbals." There- 
fore, he had very justly concluded that most people, 
in their attentions to him, could only he actua- 
ted by one of two motives — either a desire to 
enjoy his little stock of backwoods common-sense 
kind of conversation, or to deride him. Nebby 
had found, in his distant wanderings, the latter 
motive too frequently the spark that had kindled 
up new acquaintances, to trust himself, unreservedly, 
in the hands of strangers. He was poor and 
badly clad, he knew; nor had he any pretensions 
to genteel manners, or fascinating conversational 
qualities. 

Nebby was a man of sentiment and feeling ; and 
the object of his wanderings in this apparently out- 
cast and vagabond kind of manner, was no mean 
purpose, but rather to build up and sustain the true 
dignity of mai^. It was no other than an honest 
thirst after intelligence ; a desire to see the world, 
and study the whimsical and fitful fabric of human 
nature. Nebby had already wandered over some of 
the fairest portions of the globe ; admiring the beau- 
ties of nature, and rejoicing in the goodness, and 
transcendent glory and power of the Creator. But 
his heart had often been saddened and crushed by 
the conduct of those whom chance had thrown in 
his way. He could no longer contemplate the cha- 
racter of the generality of mankind but with a sor- 



94 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

rowful heart, a subdued spirit, and a deep conviction 
that there is more real satisfaction in communing 
^ith the wild, untamed glories of the Creator's hands, 
in his own native wilderness, or among the silent 
and sublime cliffs of Alpine mountains, than in the 
fine-spun, cold associations of men, with all their 
refinement, all their pomp, all their deceit, and all 
their worthlessness. 

In the great works of nature, there was a truth- 
fulness and a reality so congenial to the mind of 
Nebby, that, they warmed his bosom, and often 
melted him into tears. But his intercourse with his 
fellow-man had almost sealed the tender springs of 
his heart, and shod his soul with iron. He looked 
upon man as a lie — a cheat — a thing born to dazzle 
and deceive — a shining basilisk, glistening in the 
barren sands of the wilderness of human existence 
but to lure and to destroy. 

That there were exceptions to be made to a sen- 
tence of such severity, Nebby acknowledged, and he 
well knew how to make them, and he appreciated 
their value with a heart overwhelmed with gratitude. 
But those green spots in the wretched waste of man's 
wickedness, Nebby had found to be few, and separa- 
ted by long and weary distances. Yet when, in the 
course of his wanderings, he had reached them, he 
knelt down, praised God, and clasped the inestimable 
blessings' to his heart with all the thankfulness, all the 
enthusiastic joy of soul, with which a thirsty, weary 
pilgrim kneels before a gushing fountain springing 
up in the midst of a wide and desolate wilderness* " 



HIS GRATITUDE. 95 

Nebby was no nngrateful creature. A kindness 
done him did not fail to make an impression upon 
his mind, which was "wax to receive^but marble to 
retain." 

He spoke of the kindness that he had received at 
the hands of the American Consul at Malta, and 
several other individuals that he had fallen in with, 
and by whom he had been aided, in different parts of 
Europe, with a tenderness and feeling honourable to 
human nature. He could not mention their names, 
nor think of their attentions to him, a stranger, 
and friendless as he was, and, as many would be 
inclined to say, vagabond and wandering outcast in 
a strange and distant part of the world, but with 
deep emotion. He was not one to trifle with and 
deride. He had formed his own estimate of man, 
and weighed his actions as in a balance. The good 
he treasured as jewels beyond price ; but the bad, 
the selfish, and the sensual, he trampled under foot 
with scorn and contempt. 

Such may be considered an outline sketch of 
Nebby Daood, his sentiments and feelings, at the 
time we had the pleasure of meeting this unfortu- 
nate but worthy American backwoodsman in Egypt 
Our acquaintance was brief, but I was in hopes to 
renew it in our own country, and here to nurse 
and warm it into a permanent friendship. Alas ! it 
was soon broken for ever. As I have before re- 
marked, Nebby was at first reserved, and not much 
inclined to talk. I frequently replenished his plate 
and renewed his glass, and otherwise exerted my- 



96 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

self to soften his feelings and bring him down 
upon confidential ground, in hopes to hear from his 
own lips, and in his own peculiar style of expression 
and dialect, his personal history, or some part of it 
at least. In this, I am gratified in being able to say, 
I succeeded ; although to give any thing like a true 
and faithful account of his conversation, and 'the 
impressive efiect which it made upon us at the time, 
would be quite impossible. 

The story of Nebby, and, his manner of relating 
it, were like a thousand other phenomena and deep- 
ly interesting things, that can neither be imagined 
nor adequately described. They must be witnessed, 
to be known; and studied, to be properly appreciated. 

" You perceive," at length said Nebby, " I dare 
say, that I am dining very heartily ; but the truth is, 
I seldom have an opportunity of dining in this 
manner." 

I told him that I was glad to see him eat heartily, 
and hoped he would have no dehcacy in satisfying 
his appetite with whatever there was upon the table ; 
and if there was any thing else not there, that he 
wished to have, it would give me pleasure to order 
it for him at once. 

Nebby thanked me, and continued : " I do not 
pretend to travel like a gentleman — my means will 
not permit me to do so ; and, since I left my 
father's fireside, in the backwoods of America, I 
have often known what it is to want food and 
raiment. But I had a desire, nay, a restless passion 
to see something of the world, and to become ac- 



SCENES OF HIS YOUTH. 97 

quainted with mankind a little more than my pre- 
scribed circle in the West would allow ; and that im- 
pulse has led me on, from country to country, and 
from year to year, until, at last, I have reached this 
distant part of the world, in the state in which you 
now see me. But how I came here, I can hardly 
tell you. It seems like a mystery ; and how, or when, 
if ever' I shall return to my own native wilds, it is 
impossible for me to determine. Providence has 
opened one door after another before me, and often 
cheered my way when gloom and sorrow hung 
around me. Therefore I am now full of courage, and 
hope in the course of another year to reach home, 
and receive the blessing of my aged parents, ere they 
sink into their graves. Dear, tender, disinterested, 
unbought friends ! How they did try to detain me at 
home, and to dissuade me from this wild notion of 
visiting distant, foreign lands ! But it was all fruit- 
less. A restless spirit for roving possessed me, and 
[ could neither rest day nor night, until I had fairly 
set out upon this favourite, and, as my friends and 
neighbours often termed it, wild, hair-brained, dis- 
astrous career. 

" I was born in the interior of the State of Ohio, 
in the secluded wilderness of the West, away from 
the jarring, dazzling, deceitful contact of man, as 
seen in what is called his high state of civilization, 
and fashionable, moral refinement. I knew nothing 
of the world for many years ; and lived on, with my 
parents and friends, in a state of pruneval bhss. All 
our neighbours, though few and thinly scattered 

Vol. I— 13 



98 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

among the tall forest-trees for a great distance, were 
our friends — not 'after the fashion that the world 
puts on,' in name only — but in deed, feeling, and sen- 
timent, our near and dear friends. Our joys and sor- 
rows were shared together. Often we startled the 
wild beasts of the wilderness from their fastnesses — 
hurled the ponderous buffalo and the vaulting deer at 
our feet, and bore them upon our shoulders joyously 
to our woodland-homes. Often we joined a willing 
and an active hand with the weak, in the erection 
of their rude cabin of logs, or in clearing the new-burn 
field of its rubbish, preparatory to the reception ot 
the seed for the first crop. Those were pleasing and 
willing duties, in which all our happy little commu- 
nity joined with light hearts and spirits of cheerful- 
ness — indicative of the warmest friendship and the 
purest devotion to the best interests and welfare of 
all. 

" The rapid march of improvement in the West 
brought among us new emigrants, new notions, new 
books, new manners, new customs, and new regula- 
tions. In short, a few brief years opened the wilder- 
ness around us — let in the great world — and all was 
changed ! 

" I had, it is true, learned to read ; my mother had 
taught me to read the Bible when I was quite a child ; 
and I used to pore over the historical parts of that 
holy book with an intensity of feeling of which I can 
give you no conception. The Bible, a library of it- 
self, and worth all other, nay, more than all other 
books, was the only one we had. I had read it un- 



fflS PASSION FOR BOOKS. 99 

til I could almost repeat it from memory, chapter by 
chapter, verse by verse, and precept by precegj^ from 
the beginning to the end. 

" I had a strong desire to read other books, but had 
no w^ay of procuring them except through the kind- 
ness of our new neighbours, of w^hom I occasionally 
borrowed one ; which, when I had read it, always 
left me with a stronger desire for more, such was my 
thirst for the fountains of knowledge. 

"At last I collected a few of the young men of our 
neighbourhood together, and told them that I had 
been thinking for some time that it would be an ex- 
cellent thing for us all, if we could by any means 
raise a small sum, to lay out in books at once, to be 
used with equal freedom by all ; and to replenish the 
collection from tim% to time as we could, by a trifling 
monthly contribution for that purpose. Some of 
them had no taste for books, and cared so little about 
any thing else but the wild, uproarious sports of the 
West, that they derided me and my plan. A majority 
of them at the time thought differently, and fell in 
with my proposition at once. I then drew up a kind 
of constitution of the society that we had formed, 
which I dignified with the name of the 'Town Li- 
brary Association.' We all signed the constitution 
— chose officers, and adjourned, with an agreement 
to come together again in a few days, and deposite 
with the treasurer what money we could collect, to 
be forwarded to New York, to be expended in books. 

" When the appointed day of our meeting came 
round, but few of the members of the ' Town Li- 



100 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

brary Association' made their appearance ; and those 
who \^re assembled, said they found it ahnost im- 
possible to raise any money — spoke of the enter- 
prise in the most discom*aging manner — and finally 
proposed to dissolve the ' Town Library Association/ 
and abandon the project of letters altogether. 

" I had been elevated to the exalted station of 
president of the ' Town Library Association,' at the 
first meeting, by a unanimous vote ; and, upon this 
proposition, being made, I rose from the' chair, which 
was a block of wood, and addressed the members 
present to the following effect : I told them that I 
was poor, poor enough, as they all very well knew ; 
but that, poor as I was, I rejoiced that I had one dol- 
lar in the world that I could call my own ; though I 
deeply regretted that that one dollar was all the money 
in my treasury, — nor did I know where or when I 
should find another. But as small a sum as that 
might be, and as feeble as I might find myself if de- 
serted by the other members of the * Town Library 
Association,' I told them that I had determined to 
send that one dollar to the city of New York by the 
first opportunity, to purchase books. I knew it could 
not buy many, but whatever it did purchase, should 
be deposited in the place provided in the constitu- 
tion ; and they should be called the books of the 
* Town Library Association,' free for the use of all 
its members. 

" This had the desired effect. The members pre- 
sent kindled into a feeling of enthusiasm — promised 
to make further exertions toward raising funds, and 



THE "TOWN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION." 101 

the meeting was adjourned to the next week, when 
we again came together, and collected six or seven 
dollars, which we sent off in a few days by a mer- 
chant who was going to New York, with the request 
that he would purchase as many books as he could 
with the money. 

" When he returned, he brought us some fifteen or 
eighteen volumes; and when those books were re- 
ceived into the shelves of the ' Town Library As- 
sociation,' it was the happiest hour of my life. It 
was a sort of literary triumph over the unlettered 
apathy and prejudice of ignorance, which rejoiced 
my soul, and my spirit was exceedingly glad. 

"The foundation-stone was laid — a commence- 
ment had been made for the ' Town Library Asso- 
ciation,' and I was sure it would prosper. Nor was 
I disappointed in my expectation ; for we went on 
adding new books from time to time, as fast as we 
could collect a few dollars together, until we found 
ourselves in possession of a very respectable library. 

"A taste for reading sprang up in the neighbour- 
hood ; and all became improved, and deeply interested 
in the success and prosperity of the ' Town Library 
Association.' 

" I read the books as fast as they came to hand, and 
was very fond of those that gave an account of dis- 
tant countries. Finally, I resolved to set out for 
Europe, as soon as I could possibly collect a suffi- 
ciently large sum to defray my expenses across the 
Atlantic. This sum, good health, industry, and the 
general prosperity of the country, threw into my 



102 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

possession, and even more ; for, when I bade adieu 
to my parents and home, I had nearly five hundred 
dollars. 

" It was in the depth of winter when I left my 
native wilds. However, I swung my pack, bade 
farewell to my friends, whom I left in much sorrow, 
and engaged to accompany a drover, who was just 
setting out with his cattle for the State of New York. 
I was to assist him on the way until we arrived at 
the place of his destination, and was to receive fifty 
cents a day for my services. That was a hard 
bargain. 

" The weather was bitter cold, and I was half-leg 
deep in the snow a great part of the distance from 
Ohio to the State of New York. More than once 
I wished myself fairly back again among my friends. 
But I could not return to them so soon, without be- 
coming the subject of derision to the whole neigh- 
bourhood. Besides, when I got rid of the drover 
and his troublesome herd of cattle, my desire to visit 
foreign lands again revived, and became more impe- 
rious than ever. I was driven forward, as it were, by 
the hand of destiny ; and reached the city of New 
York in process of time, on foot, but in safety, and in 
perfect health. 

" The magnitude of the place, the fine buildings, 
the bustle and hum of business, the * multitudinous 
seas of people* hurrying through the streets — all had 
a new and singular effect upon my mind. It pro- 
duced an impression that I shall never forget. 

** I knew no one in the city of New York ; and, 



HE FALLS ATvIONG SPECULATORS. 103 

for the first time in my life, I felt the withering deso- 
lation of my condition, and that I was really a 
stranger and wandering pilgrim upon the earth. 

" Every thing was new and strange to me ; and 1 
was heart-sick and melancholy at the rude and cold 
manner in which the people rushed by me and each 
other; and I was soon convinced that every one was 
so absorbed in himself and his own private affairs, 
as to have little or no sympathy or feeling for any 
one else. There I took my first lesson in the world's 
cold and heartless exclusiveness. 

"After a few days' residence in the city, I began 
myself to grow more indifferent with regard to other 
people. I found that it was the way of the world 
for every one to rely upon his own resources, and to 
take care of himself 

"I was then richer than I had ever been before — 
having in my possession, after pocketing the amount 
of my services with the drover, something over five 
hundred dollars. 

"I fell in with several new acquaintances, and all 
of them, believing that I had some money, advised 
me to lay it out in land, and set up the business of a 
speculator in real estate. They told me how soon 
and easy immense fortunes were realized in that line 
of business ; and, by way of illustration, or rather con- 
firmation of what they had told me, pointed out sev- 
eral burly, consequential individuals in Wall-street, 
who, they said, came from Boston and other places 
to New York but a few months before, bankrupts in 
fortune and character, and were then riding in their 



104 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

carriages, living in splendid houses, giving elegant 
entertainments, and worth millions of dollars each. 
They further said, if I had the least doubt of what 
they told me, I had only to ask the gentlemen them- 
selves about it, and they would confirm all that my 
new friends had stated, and more too. Besides, they 
added, those men are gentlemen of the most un- 
doubted veracity, whose words are just as good as 
their notes of hand. 

" My new friends then exhibited a variety of nice- 
ly-coloured maps and plans of new towns, cities, and 
villages that had recently sprung up in all parts of 
the United States, in all of which there were more 
or less vacant lots, belonging to my new companions 
— a part of which, out of friendship, they proposed 
to sell me, for a small per centage in ready money, 
and a bond and mortgage on the property for the 
balance, to be paid many years afterward. 

" This account of theirs, so glowing with the pros- 
pect of sudden riches, beyond the possibility of doubt, 
I must confess, appeared very tempting, and at first 
staggered me considerably; and when I seemed to halt 
between two opinions, quite undecided what I would 
do, abandon my wandering notions of travel and turn 
land-speculator in New York, or persist in my peri- 
grinations, they came to the charge again with re- 
newed energy — fired off the same batteries a second 
time, but more heavily charged than at first. They 
exhibited more maps and plans, and immense piles 
of finely-engraved scrip of the stock of 'land com- 
panies,' — 'quarrying companies/ — 'lumber compa- 



IGNORANCE OF THE WORLD. 105 

Dies/ — 'companies' for the manufacture of barrel- 
staves, — ' steam companies/ — patent- rights of grist- 
mills, water-wheels, shingle-saws, spinning-jennies, 
cutting-machines, and the deuce knows what all 
I became confounded and almost bewildered by 
their papers and their eloquence ; but at last I made 
up my mind that I would have nothing to do with 
the matter. I excused myself as well as I could, and 
told them that I knew nothing whatever about busi- 
ness, and had rather not embark in such gigantic 
operations. They saw that I was decided ; and, al- 
though they had acted in a very friendly manner up 
to that time, they now seemed to be displeased, and 
never would have a word to say to me upon that or 
any other subject afterward. I hardly knew what to 
make of such conduct ; for, by their own showing, I 
had committed no offence, biit to refuse their lands 
and stocks at a price greatly below their current and 
intrinsic value. 

" I thought I had a great deal yet to learn before 
I should be able fully to comprehend the .strange 
ways of the world. I walked down to the wharves 
to see if there were any vessels about to sail for any 
part of Europe. The first vessel that I came to was 
just on the point of sailing for Liverpool. I went 
on board, and was looking about the ship a little, 
making inquiries with regard to the price of passage, 
etc., when, in stepping back a few feet to allow one* 
of the sailors to pass me with a water-cask, I pitched 
down the hatchway into the hold of the vessel, 

Vol. 1—14 



106 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

broke one leg, bruised my head, and seriously injured 
myself in other respects. 

" This was a dreadful blow to my future prospects. 
The alarm was given, and I was fished up out of the 
hold in a state more dead than alive. Some restora- 
tives from the medicine-chest revived me, so that I 
was enabled to inform the captain who I was, and 
where I came from. I requested him to have me 
conveyed to my lodgings, where my landlady received 
me, mangled and broken to pieces as I was, in a 
kind manner. 

; "The bone of my leg, on examination, was found 
to be badly shattered, but it was well put together ; 
and after three months' suffering I was again enabled 
to crawl along the streets with the aid of a crutch. 

" My money had suffered a wonderful diminution 
during the process of curing my leg, and my health 
was far from being as sound and robust as it had 
been previously. However, feeble as I was in body, 
and slender as might appear my pecuniary circum- 
stances, I was stout in mind, and firmly resolved not 
to abandon my favourite project of visiting foreign 
countries. As soon as I recovered sufficient strength, 
I hobbled down again to the wharf on my crutches. 
I took a steerage passage %n board one of the Liver- 
pool packets, and went over to England, without 
accident or the occurrence of any thing remarkable 
on the voyage." 



HIS VISIT TO ENGLAND. 107 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Story of JVebby Daood continued, — Jfehby in England, — 
His Visits to Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and London. — His 
frst Impressions of the British Metropolis, and his Manner 
of getting into the House of Parliament. — His Visit to 
Westminster Ahhey. — His Reception at the Mansion of a 
Distinguished American in London. — His Opinion of the 
two Houses of Parliament. — His Visit to France, and Wan- 
derings to Switzerland. — His Journey across the Alps into 
Italy. — His Visit to Genoa, Venice, Florence, Rome, JSTa- 
pies, and the long-buried Cities of the Plains. — His Reflec- 
tions among the Ruins of Pcestum. — His Visit to Sicily ; 
and Voyage to Greece. 

"After the first few days out of New York, my 
health much improved, and I gained strength daily, 
until the voyage was accomplished, when I threw my 
crutch overboard, and went on shore as light-hearted 
as any man on board ship. 

"After looking about the city of Liverpool, I set 
out on a tour through the north of England, visiting 
all the large towns en route ; and went up into the 
highlands of Scotland ; lingered on the borders of the 
lakes and rivers of old Scotia ; looked down into the 
winding glens and beautiful scenery from her highest 
mountains ; knelt before the grassless gi*ave of Scott; 
visited the birthplace of Robert Burns ; wandered 



108 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. * 

among the scenes of his early career, and wept over 
his tomb. I then crossed to Ireland ; passed down 
through that country, visiting all the most interesting 
localities and surveying the finest scenery ; came over 
to Wales, and at length reached London, in perfect 
health, by a circuitous route through the south part 
of the country. 

" London presented an entirely new picture to my 
view — contrasted with which, all other cities seemed 
to sink into comparative insignificance. 

" I wandered about London day after day, without 
being able to understand it at all. I visited the 
Tower, Saint Paul's, and Westminster Abbey, which 
last place was the most interesting spot that I saw in 
that strange, overgrown, world of a city. 

"At Westminster Abbey, I found myself among 
the monuments and tombs of all those estimable men 
whose works I had read with so much pleasure and 
profit, and so much admired, before I left home. 
There, I passed some of the happiest moments of my 
existence ; nor could I restrain the tears that trickled 
down my cheeks, and fell in among the tombs of 
those master spirits. This pleasure, thought I at the 
time, is among the fruits that I have already reaped 
from the ' Town Library Association.' 

" While in London, I was anxious to visit the 
house of Parliament, which was then in session ; 
and, on making application for adm.ission at the door, 
I was turned out of the lobby by a lubberly fellow, 
who told me not to be seen lurking about the pre- 
mises again ; if I did, he would hand me over to the 



HE VISITS A DISTINGUISHED COUNTRYMAN. 109 

police ! I was thunderstruck at this, and learned, for 
the first time, that a card of admission was necessa- 
ry ; and that, too, from a member of Parliament. I 
knew nobody in either house, of course, nor indeed 
did I know any one in London. I was as lonely 
there as one could well be. Still, I thought I must 
get into the house of Parliament somehow or other. 

"At last, I thought I would call upon a distin- 
guished citizen of the United States, resident in Lon- 
don at the time, in hopes, through his kindness 
toward an unfriended fellow-countryman, to obtain 
admission to the house. But my reception, at the 
elegant mansion of this distinguished American citi- 
zen, was sufficiently cold and formal to indicate that 
he did not expect me to do myself the honour of call- 
ing again ; and that he did not care to have much to 
do with such a republican-looking chap as I appeared 
in his eyes to be. My reception had been so cheer- 
less, that I did not think it worth while to endeavour 
to enlist him in my scheme of getting into Parlia- 
ment; and when I came out through the hall, his 
servants, in livery and powdered hair, put their fin- 
gers to their noses, and looked very sagaciously in 
each other's faces. Said I to myself, I will get into 
the house of Parliament somehow or other ; and I 
will be under no obligation to this popinjay, slipshod 
American nobleman either. 

" I succeeded in finding out the residences of sev- 
eral of the members of both houses, and went from 
one to the other, to ascertain if I could not procure 
admission to see some of them, and obtain, through 



110 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

their influence, admission into the house of Parlia- 
ment. Generally, where I called, the servants would 
say that my * Lord d/ or ' Duke 0/ ' were not at 
home ;' and then shut the door in my face, without 
waiting to hear a word further. 

" I was nevertheless determined in my purpose, 
and followed up these visits of ceremony among the 
English noblemen, day after day, until at last I came 

to the splendid mansion of the Duke of B . I 

rung at the door, and a good-natured servant opened 
it and demanded what I wanted. I thought when I 
first saw him, that he was my man, and that if I did 
not succeed with him, I might as well give up all idea 
of getting into the house at all. I told him I wanted 

to see his grace the Duke of B . The servant 

surveyed my clothes, and looked me rather minutely 
in the face. He replied that his grace was then 
very much engaged, and would not be able to see 
me. ' But,' said he, ' what do you want of the Duke V 

" ' Why,' said I, ' the truth is, I am a stranger in 
London from the United States of America. I know 
no one here, but I have a great curiosity to visit the 
house of Parliament, which I cannot do without a 
member's ticket of admission ; at least so I have been in- 
formed ; and I have taken the liberty of calling here to 

ascertain whether his grace the Duke of B would 

not hav^e the kindness to grant me that privilege.' ^ — 
* Really,' said the obliging servant, * I am not quite 
certain of that, but if you will be kind enough to call 
Jiere about this time to-morrow, I will take occasion 
to mention your case to his grace the first moment 



HIS EFFORTS TO VISIT PARLIAMENT. i'll 

that I find him at leisure, and will then give you an 
answer.' I thanked the good fellow, and returned to 
my lodgings. Good, thought I, as I wandered along 
through the streets; I have at last got my foot upon 
the threshold of the house of Parliament, and my 
hand hold of the latch ; I think T shall now get inside 
of the walls. The next day, at the appointed hour, 
I again presented myself at the door of the Duke's 
residence, and was met by the same servant, who 
smiled, and said that ' he w^as happy in being able to 
say that he had succeeded with his grace, without the 
least difficulty ;' and handed me tickets oft admission 
to both houses of Parliament. This was a great 
gratification to me, but the tickets scarcely pleased 
me so much, as did the manner in which they were 
delivered. For, this servant seemed to be really 
more gratified to think that he had obtained them, 
than I was myself. His kindness touched my feel- 
ings. It was almost the only instance that any one 
had exhibited the least interest for me since my arri- 
val in London. He seemed to comprehend me and 
my motive, in making the request through him of the 
obliging Duke, and entered into it with all the 
warmth and interest of a friend. I took his hand on 
parting, and thanked him over and over again ; and 
we were both so much affected that we were scarce- 
ly able to articulate a word. 

" * Well,' said I, as I hurried along toward the 
House of Lords, * this world is not all made of 
rocks, stones, thorns, and thistles; there are some 
souls of men in it, even where we do not look for 



112 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

them. It is not by the exterior surface of the earth 
that one can judge of the quaUty, richness, and depth 
of tlie mine ; or whether, in fact, there may not be 
beneath a green turf, embelUshed with flowers, cold 
springs of bitter waters, trickhng churlishly among 
gravel, brimstone, and mire ; while the pure and 
crystal brook is often seen bursting out of the bosom 
of the rocky and uncouth hillside, leaping over the 
rugged cliffs, and spreading a cheerful and fertilizing 
beauty far into the lowly vale/ 

*'I mused along in this manner, until I reached 
the Hous^ of Lords, where, aft«r some little scrutiny 
and hesitation on the part of the door-keeper, I was 
permitted to enter. 

"I saw nothing there to astonish me. Those 
lords, said I to myself, are merely men, after all ; and 
not the best specimen of the species that I have 
seen, either. Some of them are more indebted to 
their decorations, titles, and wealth, than to nature, 
for the elevated positions they occupy. The lords 
were lounging about, upon the great long seats, like 
a dissipated gathering of high fellows just in from a 
shooting party or a midnight debauch. They were 
sitting with their hats on, apparently careless about 
business, and seemed to have assembled merely to 
talk over the incidents of the last carousal, and to 
plan another with a view of winding up with cigars 
and something to drink. Few seemed to pay the 
least attention to what was before the house ; indeed, 
there appeared to be little before it, of any kind, 
except a cadaverous little old man, dressed in a black 



HE VISITS SWITZERLAND. 113 

gown, and half enveloped in a large powdered wig; 
and lie was squeaking away at the top of his voice, 
seated on a wool-sack but without being able to 
make himself understood at a distance of ten feet 
from the place where he sat. He was the presiding 
genius of the House of Lords. 

" I soon became fatigued with that kind of lion, 
and went down to the House of Commons, which I 
found ' ditto to Mr. Burke.' 

" Thinks I, as I walked away from the Parliament 
House toward my humble lodging, * this business is 
hardly worth the candle ; but my curiosity is satis- 
fied, and that is a point gained. — I have also been 
among the lords, but the atmosphere does not seem 
to be of the most celestial odour : still it was worth 
seeing, if for nothing else but to ascertain how in- 
sipid and insignificant it really was.* 

" I went once more to Westminster Abbey, and, 
having entirely satisfied my curiosity respecting Eng- 
land, I left the country. I crossed to France ; visited 
Paris, which is all that one can see in that kingdom 
worth spending any time about. I afterwards went 
to Switzerland, and wandered among the sublime 
Alpine scenery, and held sweet communion with the 
silent rocks, the snowy cliffs, and the rugged glaciers 
of those hoary mountains. 

" I knew neither the language of the country nor 
the men that inhabit it ; but I was in the arms and 
upon the very bosom of nature's glorious works. 
These were intelhgible to me — themes of truth and 
instruction, which I delighted to revel in and study. 

Vol. I — 15 



114 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

"Switzerland: How beautifully the poet has 
spoken of it ! Here is a true picture : 

" * It is the land of beauty and of grandeur, 
"Where looks the cottage out on a domain 
The palace cannot boast of Seas of lakes, 
And hills of forests ! Crystal waves, that rise 
'Mid mountains all of snow, and mock the sun, 
Returning him his flaming beams more thick 
And radiant than he sent them. Torrents there, 
Are bounding floods ! and there the tempest roams 
At large, in all the terrors of its glory ! 
And then our valleys ! Ah, they are the homes 
For hearts ! Our cottages, our vineyards, orchards, — 
Our pastures, studded with the herd and fold ! 
Our native strains, that melt us as we sing them ! 
A free, a gentle, simple, honest people !* 

" Coming down from the frozen cliffs of the free 
mountains of Switzerland, I entered upon the great 
military road of Napoleon, and crossed Mount Ce- 
nis, not far from the spot over which the intrepid 
Hannibal led his veteran army to the plains of Italy. 
In this fine road, over those fearful heights, leaping 
from cliff to cliff, piercing the solid rock, grasping 
the flinty sides of cheerless mountains; then de- 
scending by a spiral route, though easily, into an 
awful and almost fathomless abyss, overhung with 
mountains of rock, and glaciers of ice and snow ; 
winding itself out gracefully, at last, to the sunny 
plains — the daring, bold, and transcendent genius of 
Napoleon displays itself, scarcely less gloriously than 
in his most brilliant and consummate victories over 
the contending armies of Europe. 

"At Turin, I passed a day in looking at the sights 
of the town, of which the fine collection of Egyptian 



HE VISITS GENOA. 115 

antiquities pleased me most. I had already seen the 
Egyptian reUcs in the Louvre and the British Muse- 
um, and had a strong desire to visit this strange land. 
But what I saw in the Egyptian Museum, at Turin, 
fully resolved me in my determination to come here ; 
and I at once incorporated it among my plans of 
travel, to make the tour of Egypt I then saw no 
door open by which I could accomplish it. 

" On my way down to Genoa,! passed over the 
battle-field of Marengo; and there, for some time, si- 
lent and alone, I lingered, where so many brave men 
had fallen, and poured out their blood like water 
into the crimson river, that has more than once in- 
undated that memorable plain. 

" I entered on foot the 'City of Palaces' — Genoa, 
the birthplace of Columbus. The first place I in- 
quired for was the house in which the bold and in- 
trepid mariner was born. A spot was pointed out 
to me, said to be the place of his nativity. But of 
this there seems to be no certainty; since the little 
fishing-town of Cogoleto, on the seashore, toward 
Nice, also claims the honour of having given birth 
to the great navigator. 

"I wandered over the town, admiring the beauties 
of the rich treasures of architecture which it contains ; 
entered the splendid palaces, looked into the * golden 
room/ and feasted my eyes upon the gems of art 
there so profusely displayed ; contemplated the * Sacro 
Catinol deposited in the cathedral ; a green dish, said 
to be an emerald, and the largest in the world. His- 
tory and tradition say, that this celebrated * Sacro 



116 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

Catind was brought from the Holy Land by the cru- 
saders ; that it fell, at the close of the wars, to the 
Genoese ; and that it was a present of the Queen of 
Sheba to King Solomon ; and was used by our Sa- 
viour on the night of the last supper. 

" Of all that I saw in Genoa, I felt the most plea- 
sure in lonely musing under the dilapidated walls of 
the once splendid palace of old Andrea Doria. Once 
it must have been a beautiful spot; indeed, silent 
and neglected as every thing is about it, even now it 
has a thousand attractions. Its green and flowery 
garden smiles upon the sea, and overlooks the deep 
blue billows, which roll up their huge swells, and 
dash themselves into spray on the shore. 

"One cannot contemplate that old mansion and 
ruined garden without deep regret, and even sorrow, 
that the once cheerful residence of so noble and brave 
a man as Doria was, should thus be permitted to sink 
into ruin, while his descendants are rich and influ- 
ential ; and when, too, as all the world knows, the 
present Doria family is indebted for most if not all of 
its influence, power, and wealth, to the goodness and 
bravery of their great progenitor. 

" The fine paintings, statuary, and other portable 
works of art that once adorned the palace of the old 
sailor, have long since been conveyed to Rome, to 
swell the princely collection of the Doria family, in 
their splendid palace in the * Eternal City.' 

" Some of the descendants of the brave old admi- 
ral have filled the pontifical chair at Rome, and have 
added wealth and influence to the family ; so that now 



HE VISITS VENICE. 117 

it is one of the most aristocratic, if not the richest 
family in all the Italian states. 

" In the contemplation of the pm*e, spotless, noble 
character of the old admiral, his descendants and all 
their dignity sink into silence and insignificance. He 
was brave, skilful, generous, patriotic, with a soul over- 
flowing with goodness. He was faithful to his coun- 
try and friends, but terrible and desolating to his ene- 
mies. At different times, he was the admiral of 
Charles V., of the Pope of Rome, and of his own 
country. He served them all faithfully, and with dis- 
tinguished honour to himself. A single and unpre- 
tending individual, he raised himself into power by 
his own bravery and honest worth ; and at various 
periods was cherished, courted, praised, loved, feared, 
and hated by many of the kings and princes of Eu- 
rope ; and in his own hand seemed to hold the des- 
tiny of the nations that he assailed, or of those with 
whom he attempted to grapple. Though his name 
was destined to be immortal, his soul dwelt in a fabric 
of clay, which, like that of other great men, crumbled 
at last, and mingled with its kindred dust. 

" I was in Venice, and pondered over the ' dying 
glories' of that modern Tyre. Alas ! the * golden 
city' now weeps in ruins ! The gondolier no longer 
cheers the silence of the sombre canals with his 
song ; and the black gondolas themselves seem as if 
in the melancholy weeds of sorrow, for the departed 
glory and greatness of a fallen city. 

" I leaned against the column on which stands the 
•winged Hon' of St. Mark, once emblematical of 



118 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

Venetian power. The flag-masts, from whose proud 
tops once floated the standards of Venetian domin- 
ion, now stripped and desolate, were but the silent 
monuments of a by-gone glory. 

" I saw the spot where old Dondolo received tlie 
ducal crown, when the nations of the East trembled 
beneath his sway. The well-worn steeds, the spoils 
of many victories, once the ornament of Corinth, 
once of Paris, but snatched from the gates of Con- 
stantinople by the victorious hands of Dondolo, still 
stand upon the tribune of Saint Mark's Cathedral, 
waiting the final dissolution and ruin of all around 
them. ^ 

"I admired the paintings, the statuary, the tem- 
ples, the palaces, and the innumerable monuments 
of art that there abound, of a genius and a spirit 
that belong to a departed age. 

" I entered the lofty halls of the Ducal Palace ; 1 
stood in the chamber of the * Council of Ten \ 
passed through the hall of the 'State Inquisition;* 
crossed the * Bridge of Sighs,' and went down into 
the deep, black prisons beneath. A thousand mad 
reflections filled my mind, as I there surveyed, by 
the light of a glimmering torch, the scene of so much 
agony, so many deaths, and so many tortures, as were 
inflicted upon poor human nature under the iron rule, 
and in the most glorious days of the republic. The 
place is still pointed out, where many a bosom strug- 
gled with the king of terrors in his most awful and 
appalling form. And the deep, blood-stained portal, 
throuffh which the lifeless bodies of the victims were 



HE VISITS FLORENCE. H 9 

thrust, is there also, though for humanity's sake it is 
now walled up ; and, it is hoped, for ever. 

"I mused in Aqua, beneath the simple tomb of 
Petrarch; and I plucked a flower from Dante's 
grave — from the grave of him who sleeps in the soil 
of exile, but for whom a later generation weeps, and 
whose ashes they would gladly gather to the bosom 
of his native land. 

" Dante in Ravenna sleeps, and leaves to Florence 
his monument, unhonoured by his bones. 

"Florence! how fair and lovely are thy bright 
hills and gentle slopes, hanging upon the silvery 
skirts of Arno's floods ! It is a delicious spot in the 
warm bosom of nature : full of fascinations, fresh 
from the pure hand of Heaven ! And yet what has 
not man done, in by-gone time, to enrich with em- 
bellishments what nature has so highly favoured ! 
This, the cradle of European art, the * Athens of 
Italy/ though but a shadow of its former glorious 
self, is still redolent of a thousand inestimable trea- 
sures of art, that exist nowhere else. But the glo- 
rious remains, the gems so much admired, the gi*eat 
and gorgeous temples, the rich and lofty palaces, 
and the cunning works of art, are the broken frag- 
ments of another age — a glorious age, that of a re- 
public ! Were not all her great men, too, or nearly 
all, of the same epoch ] 

"Florence, compared with her sister states in 
Italy, may smile and look happy ; yet, contrasted with 
herself — with what she once was — she weeps and 
mourns, and * hangs her harp upon the willows.' 



120 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

" I reposed my weary pilgrim-limbs at last in Rome 
— Rome ! once the centre of the world, through which 
its destiny vibrated, like the crimson gush of man's 
existence in the human heart ! How fallen now ! — 
how sad, how desolate, how weak, how ruined ! 
Yet, who can stand in the hallowed spot of Rome's 
ancient power and grandeur, but with silent awe and 
wonder ! Rome is great and powerful still ; but the 
pasteboard show of marshalled monks and gilded 
priests adds nothing to her greatness, and augments 
not her grandeur. She is great in ruin ! — great in 
the glorious achievements of another age. Her 
power and influence among the kingdoms and prin- 
cipalities of the world, have long since passed away ; 
and her sceptre has been broken. But still, all na- 
tions must and do go there, to bend before the altar 
of genius, and to pay a willing homage to her trea- 
sures of art. There are the deathless tints, the im- 
mortal touches of Michael Angelo's gigantic hand ; 
there too are the divine and angelic impressions of 

Raphael; there but why should L attempt an 

enumeration of a thousand names, consecrated to 
genius, and hallowed by antiquity, whose glorious 
works so richly adorn the Eternal City ! They are 
known to all, but not by all appreciated. 

" I looked down from the brink of the deep cra- 
ter's mouth into the black and fiery bosom of Vesu- 
vius, where the raging flames, old as time itself, have 
maddened into fury and awful storms of molten 
anger, burying fair cities deep beneath their glowing 
wrath ! What a scene ! I turned my eyes upon the 
fair blue waters, so sweetly spread at the base. 



HE VISITS POMPEH AND HERCULANEUM. 121 

like the smooth surface of a burnished shield, flash- 
ing back the rays of the sun in all the glory that he 
sends them. 

" It was a lovely day in spring, when the flowers 
were young and bursting into blossom, diffusing their 
perfumes over the gay, embellished, vine-clad hills* 
The bay of Naples then reposed in beauty ; there 
was no breeze to curl its surface, and the warm 
sun smiled gently upon it. O ! how bright the pros- 
pect over its blue expanse ! The city, too, was glo- 
rious in the thin blue ethereal vapour, lightly tinging 
the swelling domes and lofty spires of sunny Naples. 

" I came down from the mountain, and entered the 
buried cities of the plains. Pompeii and Hercula- 
neum ! once gay cities — long buried beneath the red 
crackling fires of the volcano's wrath ! How little 
do we know of those beings who* once gayly trod 
the well-worn pavements of those silent streets ! 
They have gone ; and myriads before them, too, have 
stepped into the awful crater of eternity ! And those 
cities have slept beneath the black cinders of Vesu- 
vian fires for many centuries ; and now they open 
their ponderous gates and sealed treasures to the 
world's astonished gaze ! 

" I looked at the relics, gathered from those long- 
buried cities ; and then thought I saw convincing 
proof that, in many things at least, the boasting 
world, that vaunts its * march of improvement,' has 
not, after all, so much to be proud of on the score 
of civilization ; or, indeed, of any very rapid strides 
in many works of art. 

Vol. L— 16 



122 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

" I walked around the fair shores of Baiae, once 
the seat of Roman luxury ; now strewed with ruins ! 
There emperors held their courts; and there the 
voice of Roman eloquence resounded. But there a 
haggard silence lingers now ! Paul landed there, or 
at Puteoli, when he escaped from shipwreck, and 
went to Rome a prisoner. 

" I hung over Virgil's tomb, that looks out on the 
fair bay of Naples, to the blue hills of Caprese where 
Tiberias dwelt in his splendid palace, an outcast to 
himself and to the world. 

" In Paestum, where disease and death have deso- 
lated all but the fresh ruins of her ancient temples, 
I mused in silence and alone ! That was the very 
scene of a real desolation — a land of poisoned wa- 
ters and haggard wo ! — The plain of death ! The 
stillness of the grave was there ! I looked upon the 
temples, brown with the rust of thousands of years; 
while the warm hands that reared them, long ages 
past, mouldered in the dust. 

"At Paestum Ulysses landed ; Jason was once be- 
neath the temples, and Hercules himself; all three, 
perhaps, have worshipped at the shrines of Posido- 
nia's gods, and burned incense on her crumbled altars. 
Calabrian hordes are now the only priests that kneel 
in adoration there ! 

" Sicily's green shores I measured round, and with 
weary steps I scaled her highest mountains, which are 
crackling and burning with volcanic fires. I surveyed 
her shattered ruins ; and then sailed to Greece. 



HE VISITS ATHENS. 



123 



CHAPTER IX. 

JVehby Daood among the Ruins of Athens. — He msits Escu- 
lapius' Grove ; Jirgos, Mycenae, Tyrrins, Corinth, the JVe- 
mean Plains, Mount Parnassus, Delphi, the Castalian 
Spring, the Waters of Lethe, the Plains of Marathon, the 
Straits of ThermopylcB, Thebes, Platcea, Ancient Crete, 

Egypt, and Syria, His Disappearance, and probable 

Death! 

" I LANDED," continued Nebby, " on the Grecian 
shore, and walked to Athens ; where Paul, eighteen 
hundred years ago, waited for Silas and Timotheus, 
disputing daily in the market-place with the Jews 
and the Greek philosophers. 

" I went to Areopagus, and ascended Mars-hill, 
where Paul stood in the midst of the idolatrous 
Athenians, and boldly declared the name of the 
* unknown God.' 

*' I climbed the old Acropolis, and mused a while 
amidst the silent ruins of the Parthenon. As I 
looked upon the fair face of that glorious ruin, bat- 
tered rudely by the hand of time and the spoiler, I 
thought I heard its well-earned anathemas on the 
British hand that robbed it of its ornaments. Byron, 
a noble bard, has damned that hand, that robber 
hand, to everlasting infamy: Elgin's name— Lord 



124 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

Elgin's shame, is * founded as a rock;' it must go 
down to ages yet unborn. 

" I passed the temple of the winds, and stood 
beside the lantern of Demosthenes. Thence I 
walked beneath the well-turned arch of Hadrian, 
and reached the ruins of the temple of Jupiter 
Olympus. That must have been a temple worthy 
of the gods. But of its hundred and twenty white 
marble columns, sixteen alone remain to tell the 
story of its pristine splendour. 

" I loitered amidst the rains of Theseus' temple, 
and seated myself upon the rock that overlooked 
the iEgean sea and Attica's fair vales and hills — the 
rock from which Demosthenes moved the nation 
with his lips. 

" I left Attica's green and sunny vale, and crossed 
the sea; surveyed the temple on the ^gean island; 
went to the grove of Esculapius, and thence to the 
plains of Argos. 

" I strolled beneath the walls of Tyrrins and old 
Mycenae and entered Agamemnon's tomb; thence, 
by the plains of Nemsea, where Hercules slew the 
lion — the scene of the Nemsean games, and where 
are still the remains of the temple of the Nemaean 
Jupiter; I went to Corinth, where Paul made tents 
with Aquilla, and preached the gospel of Christ to 
the unbelieving Greeks and Jews. 

" The ruins at old Corinth are now few and scat- 
,tered. I walked upon the summit of the Acropolis, 
where once was Venus' temple. There I gazed on 
Athens in the distance, with her temples dimly seen. 



VIEW OF CORINTH. 



125 







126 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

The narrow belt of soil that separates Lepanto 
from the ^gean sea, Corinth's isthmus, lay at my 
feet; and the smooth, mellow seas that kissed its 
shores, green with islands, spread out like liquid sil- 
ver in the sun's broad glare. Attica's rugged hills 
were glorious to the view, as were ^ the snow-clad 
tops of Helicon and old Parnassus. The Pelopon- 
nesian mountains rose in billowy grandeur, till the 
eye's dim visign' rested on the clouds. Corinth and 
its fertile plain lay along Lepanto's shore. Around 
me were the hushed guns of nations long since 
dead. There they repose amidst the gloom of broken 
temples, mosques, and dwellings of a silent gene- 
ration. 

" 1 journeyed to Delphi, where Apollo's temple 
stood, and drank Castalian water at the crystal spring 
that gushes from Parnassus' bosom, and whose icy 
caps, with Alpine grandeur, mingle with the misty 
clouds of heaven. To these at last I mounted, 
and reached Parnassus' tops, where my locks wer^ 
bathed in the dew of heaven. Then I wandered oh 
to Lethe's springs, next to Platsea's ruins, and at length 
to Thebes. I have been in the narrow gap of Ther- 
mopyl?e, and crossed the plain of Marathon. I 
passed over Patmos' Island to ancient Troy. 

" I have been in Crete, and in Ephesus. I have 
heard the Nile's cataract roar, and seen the Philaean 
temples. I have kissed the vocal Memnon on the 
Theban plain, and entered many of Pharaoh's 
tombs, or palaces, hewn in the solid rock. I have been 
beneath the scupltured roof of Dendera's fair tern- 



HIS CONTEMPLATED RETURN. 127 

pie; that of Edfu, Esneli, Ombo, Luxor, Thebes; 
and Karnack's wonders. I have seen them all ; and 
placed my pilgrim feet upon the lofty pyramid of 
Libya's desert. I have seen the bruised sphinx at 
Ghizeh, and descended into the tombs of the mum- 
mied birds and sacred beasts of Egypt. I have been 
in Memphis, in HeUopolis, and at last a kind Provi- 
dence has safely brought me here. 

" I have still a little coin in my pocket, and only 
await the arrival of a Tuscan steamer, that is daily 
expectedat Alexandria, with which I go to Syria ; and, 
after making a tour through the Holy Land, I will 
return to Alexandria, and embark on board a vessel 
freighted with wild beasts, which will then be ready 
to sail for the United States. These wild animals, 
from the interior of Africa, are to be my companions 
on the voyage ; and the service I am to render, in 
taking care of them, is considered an equivalent for 
my passage to New York." 



This was the tale of the wanderings of a poor, 
obscure, unknown, though w^orthy individual, from 
the backwoods of the United States. We were 
deeply interested with the simple manner in which 
he related it ; and I now insert it here, to show the 
indomitable and persevering spirit of the Americans, 
who are often known to endure all kinds of sacri- 
fices and privations, to accomplish a favourite project, 
Nebby was one who thirsted for knowledge, and he 
had a mcst distinct idea and comprehensive view of 



128 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

all the important objects that he had seen throughout 
his long and perilous pilgrimage. His account of 
what he had witnessed, was graphic, artless, and 
strongly marked by that shrewdness, good sense, and 
penetration, which distinguished him. We have 
rarely met a more agreeable or a more amusing com- 
panion. We separated from him at a late hour, with 
unfeigned regret ; not, however, without giving him 
letters of introduction to some respectable gentlemen 
in New York, who, I was in hopes, on his arrival in 
that city, would be able to render him some assist- 
ance. The last time we saw him, was on the morn- 
ing of our departure for Cairo. He came down to 
the canal-boat, to bid us adieu, and did not quit it 
until it had fairly swung off; so that, in regaining the 
shore, he came near jumping into the canal. 

A few days after we arrived in Cairo, I received a 
letter from Nebby, in which he informed me that the 
Tuscan steamer had arrived, and that he was just 
embarking for Syria. He also wrote me that he had 
been obliged to pay two dollars to a man from Den- 
mark, for signing his passport. This Dane, in the 
absence of the American consul, then passing the 
winter in Upper Egypt, had been left in charge of the 
affairs of the American consulate at Alexandria, and 
to exact toll of all citizens of the United States who 
might come into or go out of Egypt. 

This exaction, Nebby wrote, he thought a hard- 
ship ; and he supposed that all was not right about it. 
I thought so too. And I thought it was not only 
not right for this Danish gentleman to rob this poor, 



IMPOSITIONS OF A DANE. 129 

unfriended man of two dollars under the broad seal 
of the American consulate, but I had every reason 
to believe that he was sinning against knowledge. 
For, only three or four days before Nebby's two dol- 
lars were thus abstracted from his almost penniless 

pockets, an American gentleman, Mr. S— , from 

Boston, then in Alexandria, and about to sail for 
Greece, had occasion for the seal and signature of 
the American consulate on his passport, and called 
on the Danish gentleman, mentioned above, for that 
purpose. The Dane received him with great ur- 
banity ; signed his passport ; and, on presenting it to 

Mr. S with a bended body and a flourish of the 

hand, told him that the fee for his viza was two dol- 
lars ! Mr. S asked him if it was the usual 

custom to demand this sum for each signature of the 
American consulate at Alexandria, on passports 1 
" Certainly," replied the Dane, " in all cases." Mr. 

S then requested the gentleman to allow him 

to look at the instructions of the State Department 
of the United States, for the regulation of American 
consulates abroad. He directed the Danish gentle- 
man to a clause in said instructions, where the con- 
suls are strictly enjoined not to take any fees for sign- 
ing passports of the citizens of the United States. 
Whereupon the Danish subject aforesaid appeared 
to be much surprised ; bowed, scraped, and apologized 
in a thousand ways, and in almost as many languages ; 
said he felt under the highest obligations to Mr. 
S for kindly calling his attention to that pro- 
hibitory clause in the instructions of the Secretary 
Vol. L — 17 



130 STORY OF NEBBY DAOOD. 

of State ; and that, in future, he would be strictly 
governed, in all similar cases, by those instructions ; 

and Mr. S might be most positively assured, 

that he would never demand any thing of the citi- 
zens of the United States for signing passports there- 
after. But in the course of three or four days, at 
most, subsequently to these assurances, he again de- 
manded and took two dollars of an American citi- 
zen for signing his passport ! And from whom 1 Cer- 
tainly not from a man to whom two dollars was of 
so little importance that he could afford to lavish it 
upon foreign agents of the American government, 
especially when such agents were strictly enjoined 
by the government at home not to receive it from 
any citizen of the United States. No ; it was from 
a poor and almost friendless, though worthy creature, 
wandering in a wild and barbarous part of the world, 
with little more, perhaps, than those two dollars, in 
his possession ; and with scarcely clothes sufficient 
to cover his worn and emaciated limbs. 

Poor Nebby did not live to relate in his* own coun- 
try the injury he had received from this heartless 
Dane. He left Alexandria, took a deck passage on 
board the steamer, and landed at Beyrout in safety. 
From thence, after tarrying a day or two with the 
missionaries, he set out for Jerusalem. He intended 
to go on foot and alone, as was his custom in other 
countries ; but was dissuaded, at first, from a resolu- 
tion so b^set with danger as was that of wandering 
unarmed in this manner through a land infested with 
banditti. He mounted a mule, and started with a 



HIS PROBABLE END. 



131 



single muleteer on his contemplated pilgrimage. In 
a few hom's, to the surprise of all who knew any 
thing of the circumstances, the muleteer returned to 
Bey rout, saying that, after riding three or four miles 
from the town, Nebby had changed his mind, and 
resolved to walk. He therefore paid the muleteer, 
and sent him back. Poor Nebby, however, was 
never heard of, by any of his friends, from that hour 
to the present moment ! He was doubtless met by 
some cowardly bandits, shot down, stripped of his 
patched and threadbare garments, robbed of his few 
last shillings, and his naked body then left a prey to 
vultures and eagles, or to bleach upon the cheerless 
mountains of Syria ! 




132 THE ARABIAN DRAGOMAN. 



CHAPTER X. 

Contemplated Visit to Upper Egypt. — Selim, the Arabian 
Dragoman. — His Qualif cations, and a Description of his 
Person. — An Interview with the Consular Agent of the 

United States. Flattering Expectations. Important 

Standing of the Consul. — Ride and Reflections among the 
Tombs. — The Wrinklebottoms at Pompey's Pillar. — Scene 
in the Graveyard at Alexandria. — Valorous Exploits of 
the Dragoman with Beggars. — Admiration and Chagrin 
of the Wrinklebottoms. — Lord Sweepstakes and Sir Jeffrey 
Windfall. — Dinner on the Summit of Pompey's Pillar. — 
Affront to the Pacha. — Imagined Insult to the British 
Flag. — Virtuous Indignation of the Wrinklebottoms. — 
The Pacha's Decree, 

Having resolved upon a visit to Upper Egypt, on 
the strongest recommendation of Mr. Firkins and his 
vicegerent, Mr. O'Statten, we engaged a person by 
the name of Selim to accompany us as dragoman, 
servant, companion, and friend. He was an Arab ; 
and spoke with considerable fluency ^ve different 
languages, though he could neither read nor write 
any one of them. This fellow turned out to be a 
great rascal. We found him lazy, malicious, disobe- 
dient, dirty, diseased, and dishonest. These were 
qualifications not calculated to render our travelling 
in Egypt the most pleasant thing in the world. 



DESCRIPTION OF HIS PERSON. 133 

For two or three days, however, previously to our 
leaving Alexandria, Selim made quite an energetic 
and conspicuous display of himself. He was tolera- 
bly clean in his appearance, and seemed, on the 
whole, to promise pretty fairly for the future. But 
the doctor was not much pleased with his ex- 
cessive vanity, or his cruelty to the donkey-boys, from 
the first ; nor was the bad impression, made in the 
outset upon the doctor's mind, removed by Selim's 
subsequent conduct. This vain-glorious demon- 
stration on the part of our new dragoman wore 
away as his clothes became soiled ; and from a bus- 
tling, bullying, brutal, quarrelsome tyrant at home, he 
became a tatterdemalion abroad. Selim had on, when 
he came into our service, a pair of Armenian bag- 
breeches, red Turkish shoes, without stockings, a 
Grecian jacket, embroidered with gold lace, and a 
red Levantine cap, adorned with a long black silk 
tassel, hanging by its side. He was a tall, attenua- 
ted figure, and had a graceless stoop in the shoulders. 
His face was long and lantern-jaw^d, and his eyes 
and hair were black. He had a good set of teeth, a 
well-formed mouth; and a nose, though not altogether 
faultless, yet, when contrasted with his high cheek- 
bones and protruding chin, it looked like a divinely- 
chiselled thing from the hands of a Grecian sculptor. 

The next morning after he entered into our ser- 
vice, he was at the hotel at an early hour, and had 
wound oflf six or eight regularly pitched battles with 
the donkey-boys, and some other harmless Egyp- 
tians, before we had got through with our breakfast. 



1 34 AN INTERVIEW WITH THE 

This we attributed more to a desire on his part to 
impress us with a proper idea of his cleverness and 
important standing at home, than to any necessity 
that there might have been for inflicting such severe 
chastisement upon his fellow-townsmen. Indeed, 
some such display of cruelty and petty tyranny tow- 
ard inferiors, the helpless and unoffending, is deemed 
by English travellers, in whose service he had gen- 
erally been, the highest recommendation that an 
Egyptian dragoman can produce ; and one most 
likely to procure him employment in the outset, and 
to sustain him long in the favour and good graces 
of his master. 

The morning was lovely; we were in good spir- 
its ; and our new dragoman appeared so blooming, 
that we thought the time rather propitious for ma- 
king an acceptable figure in paying our respects to 
the presiding genius of the consulate of the United 
States. Accordingly, the doctor and myself mount- 
ed donkeys, and set out with Sehm. also on a donkey, 
and three naked muleteers whipping our animals into 
a gait of most unenviable locomotion. 

As we drew up in front of the palace of the consul, 
the dragoman and muleteers fell by the ears, and 
made such an uproar, that we felt ashamed of our 
company. 

The doctor mildly admonished the ferocious drago- 
man, and begged that he would be a little more gen- 
tle with the poor donkey-boys, whom this fellow, in 
red cap and peaked-toed Turkish shoes, seemed to 



CONSULAR AGENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 135 

be desirous of whipping and banging about in the 
most cruel manner, every leisure moment. 

We entered the vestibule, and ascended the great 
stair-case conducting to the apartments of the Da- 
nish gentleman, then the acting consul of the United 
States, w^hom w^e found writing and busily employed 
at the moment. He put his quill behind his ear, or- 
dered seats, and treated us with civility and much 
apparent cordiality. So far as words are an indica- 
tion, he seemed very desirous of being of service to 
us in some way or other, during our stay in Alexan- 
dria, and hoped that we would have no hesitation in 
commanding him in any manner we might find con- 
venient to ourselves. This was all a stranger could 
wish or expect; and, since the gentleman appeared 
so desirous to serve us in some way or other, we 
thought it would not be improper to enlist his kind 
offices in our behalf for the gratification of a wish — 
the only one, that we knew^ of, in which he could be 
of the least use — and that was, in obtaining for us 
an audience wuth the Pacha of Egypt. 

At that time, Mehemet Ah was the greatest living 
"lion" of the East; and the eyes of the whole world 
were upon him. We had, therefore, a desire to be 
introduced to him, that we might have an opportu- 
nity, however slight it might be, of seeing him face 
to face, and of judging from personal observation, 
something of that extraordinary individual, more 
than what we could learn from the published gossip 
about him in the journals of the day. 

Upon making known this wish to the consular 



136 POMPEY'S PILLAR. 

functionary of the American government, he threw 
hhnself back a httle more deeply into his capacious 
arm-chair; and, with increased complacency, and the 
assurances of his desire to do something for us, said 
that nothing in the world was easier, than for him to 
obtain an audience with the Pacha for us. He set his 
own time for it to take place, even without obtaining 
leave of the Pacha for such an audience, and declared 
it would give him the highest gratification to present 
us to his Highness ; with whom he represented him- 
self upon terms of intimacy and cordiality nearly as 
enviable as the extraordinary favour in which Mr. 
Firkins was held at the regal palace. 

The next day was appointed for the presentation ; 
and after some further conversation of a general na- 
ture, we took leave of our new and remarkably polite 
acquaintance ; and, being joined at the hotel by Mrs. 
C, we rode out to review some of the ground that 
we had hurried over so rapidly on our arrival in 
Alexandria. 

We passed along by a fine grove of date-trees, 
then loaded with that luscious fruit, pending beneath 
the graceful leaves and branches ; and directed our 
course toward Pompey's Pillar. 

We discovered, at a considerable distance before 
us, rather a brilliant party, mounted on donkeys ; with 
a long train of attendants, winding slowly through 
the Arab burying-ground, up to the elevated spot 
where stood the object of our excursion. When the 
party arrived at the base of that noble monument, 
they dismounted, and threw themselves into the most 



SCENE IN A GRAVEYARD. 137 

amusing attitudes of admiration. At first, we could 
not imagine who they were. 

At last, says the doctor : " I think they must be 
the Wrinklebottoms and Mr. O'Statten." 

" Yes," said our new dragoman, who had heard the 
conversation, " it is. They passed the palace of the 
American consul a few moments before you came 
down stairs." 

Seeing that the Wrinklebottoms and Mr. O'Statten, 
with their long train of janizaries and Arab attend- 
ants, had passed through the cemetery, we thought 
that we would go that way too. It was a little nearer 
than the usual route to the column, and it had the 
additional attraction of a rather conspicuous monu- 
ment erected over an Arab grave, near the centre of 
the burying-ground, which we had a desire to see. 
When we turned our donkeys in among the graves, 
we saw several undertakers opening new receptacles 
for the dead in the fresh sand, which they were scoop- 
ing out with baskets and a rude kind of hoes ; though 
they dug the graves to such a slight depth, that, were 
it not for the hills of sand which are hauled around 
them upon the top of the ground, the bodies would al- 
most be blown out of their last resting-place. Neither 
these grave-diggers, however, nor any of the large 
crowds of public mourners and funeral-wailers that 
were prowling about in the cemetery, seeking em- 
ployment, made the least objection to our entering 
the cemetery, and riding over it on donkeys. But 
when we came along in front of the rude erection 
which had attracted us thither, several sheet-envel- 

VoL. I.— 18 



138 



SCENE IN A GRAVEYARD. 




Public Mourners and Wailing-women of Egypt. 



SCENE IN A GRAVEYARD. 139 

oped, hideous-looking objects in human shape, rushed 
out as suddenly and unexpectedly as if they had risen 
from their graves. They all had contribution-boxes 
in their hands, which they thrust rudely into our 
faces, demanding alms for their favourite saint, or 
something else, in the most uproarious and clamor- 
ous manner imaginable. 

We did not stop to ascertain precisely the object 
to which our donation, had we given them any thing, 
would have been applied, nor were we in the right 
kind of mood to make any satisfactory reply to their 
noisy solicitations. Their style seemed to be a little 
too ardent, perhaps, to suit the pensive tone of our 
" meditations among the tombs ;" and this and some 
other undefinable reasons had sealed the benevolent 
springs of our hearts, and so entangled the strings of 
our purses, that we did not give them a single jjara. 
Whereupon these frightful images set up a most 
clamorous hue-and-cry, with threatening gestures, 
on account of our riding through the burying-ground. 
And when I dismounted, and plucked a little flower 
from one of the Moslem graves, the ghostly uproar 
was increased to a frightful extent. So far as I could 
judge from tone, gesture, attitude, and looks, they 
thought the plucking of a flower from the grave of a 
Moslem by the hand of a " Christian dog," as all 
Franks are called by the faithful followers of the 
Prophet, the very consummation and superlative of 
all degrees of sacrilege of which human hands were 
capable. 

We had already seen enough of Arab blustering 



140 EXPLOITS OF THE DRAGOMAN. 

and fury, not to feel any serious apprehension from 
the effects of their noise — supposing, as usual, that 
like the " crackling of thorns under a pot," it would 
all end at last in smoke. 

Our gayly-attired dragoman, desirous of giving us 
further and more substantial evidence of his bravery 
and daring, put spurs and whip to his donkey, and 
charged upon these spectres of the tombs in the most 
heroic style conceivable. 

The engagement was amusing and picturesque. 
The rich and gay-coloured costume of the dragoman 
contrasted strikingly with the grave-clothes of those 
whom he assailed, making his figure appear con- 
spicuous, and certainly to the greatest advantage. 
He was so furious in the charge, however, that I was 
fearful the fellow was determined to give no quarter, 
but desired to kill and destroy every soul of his oppo- 
nents ; if, indeed, images seen in such a place, and 
under such circumstances, may be supposed to have 
any souls. They saw how resolute the rascal was 
in his onsets, and some sought safety in flight. He 
was not satisfied in driving the enemy from their 
stronghold, but followed up their retreat in a relent- 
less and cruel manner, that would have done honour 
to the Turkish arms in the sanguinary days of the 
crusades. The poor creatures, in their flight, pitched 
down over the graves, and uttered such frightful 
noises, that I did not know but the very tombs would 
open and send forth their inmates against this violator 
of their silence and sanctity. 

Things were really assuming a serious aspect ; and, 



ENTHUSIASM OF THE WRINKLEBOTTOMS. HI 

lest the contemplated enjoyment of the day's excur- 
sion should be turned into the solemnities of a fu- 
neral over the dead body of one or more of the vic- 
tims of the new dragoman's valour, I called him off 
from the pursuit, and we continued our route up to 
Pompey's Pillar without further molestation. There, 
as we expected, we found the Wrinklebottoms, in a 
fume of admiration and hot enthusiasm — full of a 
thousand strange surmises respecting the object and 
period of its erection. They would doubtless have 
felt an honest pride in tracing its history to the ge- 
nius and munificent spirit of Englishmen, in com- 
memoration of some glorious deed of the British 
arms, or the perpetuation of some distinguished vir- 
tue of some ancient English nobleman. In this, the 
utmost stretch of their imagination and genius found 
not the least chance of realization. Its known ex- 
istence is so far anterior to the date of the English 
nation, that on that score there were no grounds of 
hope. They could not, therefore, but acknowledge, 
that it was the work of other than English hands, 
and commemorative of other than English glory or 
English virtue ; and they were as much enraptured 
with that beautiful monument as it is possible for the 
dueen's loyal subjects to manifest for any thing not 
created by British hands, and manufactured out of 
England. 

The two Misses Wrinklebottom were just at that 
moment finishing their sketches of the monument ; 
and, as they rose to put up their paper and crayons, 
they both said, in the same breath — 



142 AMBITION OF THE WRINKLEBOTTOMS. 

" I wish, papa, that we could get upon the top of 
Pompey's Pillar ; it would be such a nice place to 
drink a cup of tea !" 

" Yes," said Mrs. Wrinklebottom, " I wish so too ; 
and what a famous place it would be from which 
to date our next letters to England !" 

" O yes,'' said one of the Misses Wrinklebottom ; 
" and if we could only write our names there too, up 
near the top, in large letters, it would not get rubbed 
out very easily, would it, mamma 1" 

" No, dear," replied Mrs. Wrinklebottom ; and then 
addressing herself to Mr. Wrinklebottom, — who 
seemed to be mentally calculating the difficulties 
naturally attending the ascension to the top of a 
smooth granite column, something over a hundred 
feet high — " I wish the girls could write their names 
up there, it would look so well." 

" Decidedly!' said Mr. Wrinklebottom, " it would be 
capital ; but it's not possihler 

"And," said one of the Misses Wrinklebottom, " if 
we could take a cup of tea and date our letters 
there!" 

" But," said Mr. Wrinklebottom, " it's impossible, 
dexidedly impossible, my dear." 

" O ! I wish we could, papa," said the other Miss 
Wrinklebottom ; and, turning to Mr. O'Statten, she 
added, " don't you think, Mr. O'Statten, that we can 
get upon the top of the column to take a cup of tea, 
date our letters there, and write our names with the 
otlier English travellers ? How did they get up there, 
pray, if we cannot ?" 



INDIGNATION OF THE PACHA. 143 

" The thing is impossible, dear," again exclaimed 
Mr. Wrinklebottom, " decidedly impossihle!' 

*' No," replied Mr. O'Statten, addressing himself to 
one of the Misses Wrinklebottom, " I do not think it 
will be possible to get permission to ascend the col- 
mnn now ; although, until within the last three or four 
years, nothing was more common for parties of En- 
glish ladies and gentlemen going out to India or re- 
turning, than to dine and take tea upon the column, 
and they used to have famous times. But, when 
Lord Sweepstakes and his friend Sir Jeffrey Wind- 
fall, and their suite, came out to Egypt in their splen- 
did yacht, a few years since, they raised the English 
flag upon the top of the Pillar, and gave a superb 
champagne dinner there — it was a most capital 
thing. They got so tipsy, however, and were taken 
doion so soon themselves, that they forgot to take 
their Jlag doion. The consequence was, that the 
Pacha, wdien he arose the next morning and saw the 
English colours flying on the top of Pompey's Pil- 
lar, wanted to know what it all meant, and if Egypt 
had recently been taken by the English 1 He was 
informed that the flag was raised in honour of a jo- 
vial dinner-party that Lord Sweepstakes and liis 
friend Sir Jefli-ey had been giving there the day be- 
fore, and that it was forgotten. * Forgotten !' said 
the Pacha, * by Sir Jeffrey Windfall and Lord Sweep- 
stakes ! Well, take their flag down for them, then ; 
and never allow those drunken English rascals to 
dine and get tipsy upon the top of Pompey's Pillar 
again to the latest day of their lives. V\\ have no 



144 AFFRONT TO THE PACHA. 

more of this rioting and drunkenness in such eleva- 
ted circles V The fact is," continued Mr. O'Statten, 
"the Pacha had been quite soured by the conduct 
of both Loid Sweepstakes and Sir Jeffrey at the 
palace, the day before they gave their dinner-party, 
and was still in bad humour on that account. They 
were presented to the Pacha by the English consul- 
general resident at Alexandria, and were received by 
his Highness with his accustomed urbanity. Pipes 
and coffee were brought in, as usual, and offered to 
Lord Sweepstakes and Sir Jeffrey, both of whom, to 
the astonishment of the consul-general, and to the 
tjitter indignation of the Pacha, refused the pipes, 
and would not puff a single whiff at the splendid 
amber mouth-piece pipes of the Pacha ! Nothing 
could have been in worse taste, nor more ill-natured ; 
and so indignant was the Pacha at their low breed- 
ing, that he gave positive orders, with a most fearful 
oath- — a wicked oath, which I could not repeat with- 
out offending the ears of the ladies — that henceforth 
and for ever thereafter, no pipe should be offered to 
any Englishman introduced at the palace, upon the 
pain of death to the person so ofTending in violation of 
said order of his Highness the viceroy ; and further- 
more, that henceforth and for ever, no Englishman or 
Englishmen, nor English lady or English ladies, or 
any part thereof, should be allowed from that time 
to ascend Pompey's Pillar for the purpose of dining, 
taking tea, dating letters, writing their names on its 
sides, nor for any other purpose whatsoever ! 

"And," still continued Mr. O'Statten, " greatly to 



THE PACHA'S DECREE. 145 

the regret of a large majority of the English travel- 
lers (for most of them would like to dine or take tea 
on the Pillar, and leave their names in large black 
letters near the top), neither of those shameful de- 
crees has, as yet, been revoked. A formal complaint, 
and many petitions, have been laid before the Enghsh 
ambassador at Constantinople in regard to it; but 
nothing has been done. Whether, in the pending 
negotiations of the ' great powers' for the settlement 
of the eastern difficulties between the Grand Sultan 
and his vassal^ a provision for the ascension of Pom- 
pey's Pillar by her Majesty's subjects travelling in 
Egypt, for the purposes aforesaid, will be insisted 
upon by her Majesty's ministers, of course has not 
yet transpired. The dignity of the English nation 
demands of her Majesty's government some prompt, 
energetic, warlike remonstrances against a decree so 
barbarous and unjust on the part of the Pacha ; and 
I think a special agent on the part of her Majesty's 
government ought to be sent out to Egypt, with posi- 
tive instructions from her Majesty's ministers at home, 
to make a ^formal demand' upon the Pacha for the 
revocation and entire repeal of those two odious and 
unjust decrees, which are a stain upon our national 
honour." 

"Certainly," said Mrs. Wrinklebottom; " I think 
so too, Mr. O'Statten, and there is one thing about 
it — when we get home, Mr. Wrinklebottom shall 
publish the abuse in every paper in England, and 
that will prevent English gentlemen and ladies from 
coming here." 

Vol. T.— 19 



146 IMAGINED INSULT 

" O ! but that would be really too bad, mamma," 
observed one of the Misses Wrinklebottom. 

" No," rejoined Mrs. Wrinklebottom, " it will not, 
my dear ; it will teach this bloodthirsty barbarian of 
an Egyptian Pacha better next time how to respect 
the English character. And besides, dear Euphemia, 
there is a point of dignity and national elevation in- 
volved in this question, which you don't understand 
at all, child. The national honour must be sustained, 
and the dignity of the British crown must be kept up, 
at home and abroad, in every part of the globe, dear ; 
and her Majesty's loyal subjects must be protected 
and defended in all parts of the universe by the gov- 
ernment, or her Majesty's ministers can't keep their 
places another day." 

" True," said Mr. Wrinklebottom, who by this time 
began to feel a little warmed by the loyal and spirited 
tone of Mrs. Wrinklebottom's conversation — ''deci- 
dedly true ; and, immediately on my arrival in Con- 
stantinople, I'll draw up a formal complaint against 
this flagrant abuse and insult to the English flag, and 
lay it before his Excellency the British ambassador, 
who shall immediately demand his passports, or re- 
cord it as an item, to be incorporated into the affairs 
to be settled by the ' great powers' in the pending 
diplomatic negotiations." 

" That is very just," repUed Mr. O'Statten. " It is 
only by spirited remonstrances against insults like 
this, and peremptory demands for immediate and sat- 
isfactory redress of such intolerable grievances, that 
the dignity and national honour of Great Britain can 



TO THE BRITISH FLAG. 



147 



be sustained upon its present elevated pinnacle. Fm 
right glad, Mr. Wrinklebottom, to see your estimable 
lady aroused on this business, for I'm sure something 
will now be done." 

" That there will," said Mrs. Wrinklebottom ; " and, 
so soon as we arrive in England, it shall all be pub- 
lished in a hook /" 

By this time, they had all worked themselves into 
a fever of patriotic excitement and glorious boasting 
about what was to be done with this " bloodthirsty 
old Pacha" for insulting the British flag; and they 
gathered up their paint-boxes, sketching-stools, draw- 
ing-papers, etc., remounted their donkeys, and gave 
orders to their janizary to conduct themselves and 
cortege to Cleopatra's Baths. 




Mrs. Wbinklebottom Trolloping the odious Pacha. 



148 POMPEY'S PILLAR. 



CHAPTER XL 

Pompey^s Pillar. — " J. S. Buckingham, ex-Member of Par- 
liament,'^ — His Account of Pomfey^s Pillar and Cleo- 
patra'^s JYeedles. — Wilkinson's Opinion and Conjecture of 
their Origin. — Reign of Thothmes III., King of Egypt. — 
Disinclination of Monarchs to record their own Disasters. 
— Gold Bracelet of Thothmes III. — General Inclination 
of all Jfations for Plunder and Spoil. 

Pompey's Pillar is bj far the most interesting 
and wonderful of all the visible remains of ancient 
Alexandria. It is composed of a single shaft of finely- 
polished Egyptian granite, seventy- three feet high, 
and a little over nine feet in diameter. That immense 
and stupendous monument of the power, taste, wealth, 
and mechanical skill of the ancient dwellers in Alex- 
andria, stands upon a solid block of red oriental gra- 
nite, each of the sides of which measures about fif- 
teen feet. This block rests upon a sub-structure of 
stone mason-work, which, I am sorry to say, is falling 
to pieces ; and, should it not soon be repaired, it 
would not be surprising to hear that this beautiful 
monument of antiquity, like most of the other splen- 
did erections of the old Egyptians, had tumbled 
down, and was destined ere long to be buried in the 



J. S. BUCKINGHAM. 149 

drifting sands of the desert. The whole erection is 
surmounted by a well- wrought Corinthian capital of 
corresponding proportions, making the height of it 
altogether something over one hundred feet. This 
extraordinary pillar, though exposed to the humid 
blasts of two seas, and having stood in its present 
position from 9. period scarcely unveiled by the hnger 
of history, is even now, in every part of it, where it 
has not been bedaubed with the names of European 
travellers, beautifully polished, and glitters in the sun 
like burnished steel. 

If I am right in my recollection, Mr, Buckingham, 
the " ex-member of Parliament," in his fanciful lec- 
ture with which he enlightened the dark and benight- 
ed inhabitants of the obscure city of New York, in 
the winter of 1838, speaking of this " Pompey's Pil- 
lar," told us that it was not " Pompey's Pillar," or 
rather, it was not Pompey the Great's Pillar — but a 
pillar that was erected to the memory of a certain 
Popaios, who had imported a (mantity of corn into 
Alexandria, at a time when there was a great scarcity 
of that article in Egypt, and distributed it among the 
inhabitants gratis. The learned gentleman, however, 
did not content himself with such a meager and beg- 
garly account of this splendid monument ; but he 
kindly continued its history — and no doubt much to 
the amusement of the good people of Gotham, whose 
notions, touching " Pompey's Pillar^' must have been, 
until then, quite vague and unsatisfactory. He as- 
serted that said pillar was only one of some hundred 
or more which adorned a certain heathen temple 



150 BUCKINGHAM'S ACCOUNT 

that once stood in the centre of ancient Alexandria, 
in the angle of four streets of one thousand feet 
broad each, terminating, or rather meeting, in the 
square in which this temple stood ; which, the learn- 
ed lecturer said, was dedicated, I think, to Jupiter 
Serapis, or some ocher god who was never much 
known or esteemed by the ancient people of that 
country, of all others most fruitful in deities of every 
description. The " ex-member of Parliament" also 
affirmed that the temple was erected upon a platform 
or sub-structure of stone, one hundred feet high and 
a thousand feet square ; and that there were flights 
of steps the whole length of each side of this rather 
broad and elevated platform, carried up all around 
from the base to the top. The temple, supported 
by one hundred or more of those fine Egyptian 
granite pillars, seventy-three feet high, and twenty- 
eight feet three inches in circumference, the learned 
gentleman informed us, was erected upon the said 
platform, with suit^y^le Corinthian capitals, archi- 
traves, pediments, etc. ; so that the whole struc- 
ture, when completed, could have been little, if any 
thing less than two hundred and fifty feet high ! 
After building this fine " castle in the air," the lectur- 
er, to give the whole a more poetical turn, and to 
complete the picture, informed the large and crowd- 
ed audience that it was subsequently destroyed by 
an earthquake !* This interesting historical account 

* Gibbon says, in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," that the 
temple of Serapis, in Alexandria, was destroyed by the Christians, in accord- 
ance with an edict of Theodosius, prohibiting the worship of idols in thai 
city. — Gibbon's " Decline and Fall,'' London ed. in 1 vol. 8vo, p. 444. 



OF POMPEY'S PILLAR. 151 

of " Pompey's Pillar," connected with a temple so 
remarkable as that of the Jupiter Serapis of the " ex- 
member of Parhament,"natm-allj made an impression 
upon my mind at the time, which I did not fail to 
remember when I stood before that noble, chaste, and 
truly beautiful erection. The thought, not very ex- 
traordinary to be sure, suggested itself to me, if this 
splendid pillar is indeed only one of some hundred 
or more that once adorned a temple of such colossal 
dimensions, in the centre of the city of ancient Al- 
exandria, where are the rest of them 1 Have none 
of them, or not the least fragment of them, ever 
been discovered 1 But upon making diligent inquiry 
in Alexandria, I was unable to fall in with any one 
who could give me the least information respecting 
them. I did not see them in the British Museum, 
among the confused wreck of the broken ornaments 
pillaged from the Parthenon at Athens, and conclu- 
ded that if they ever existed at all, except in the 
learned gentleman's imagination, and were not actu- 
ally brought away in his " breeches pockets," they 
must be in the private cabinet of Lord Elgin, who 
robbed the temples of Greece, or among the antique 
relics and precious gems of Mr. Salt, the English 
consul, who broke open and ransacked the tombs of 

Egypt. 

The learned " ex-member," in the course of the 
same evening, if I am not at fault in my recollection, 
continuing his interesting narrative of the wonderful 
remains still visible among the crushed ruins of an- 
cient Alexandria, came down upon the obehsks of 



152 



ERUDITION OF MR. BUCKINGHAM. 



Cleopatra with much emphasis and a great flourish 
of learned phraseology in Arabic and other oriental 
languages, which the distinguished " ex-member" 
seemed to handle as familiarly and with as much 
ease as ordinary mortals pull off and put on their 
gloves and slippers. I think it was not the evening, 
however, that he so enlightened his audience in a 
lengthened and very learned discourse upon the defi- 
nition of the word ^'nigJi' — a definition that the 
people of New York, and the inhabitants of the 
United States generally, could have known very lit- 
tle about, until the arrival of the learned " ex-mem- 
ber," who not only made us all acquainted with the 
meaning of the little word '^nigh,'' but he also told 
us that in England the apothecaries sold the pow- 
dered remains of Egyptian mummies for physic ! In 
fact, as is well known, the learned " ex-member" was 
full of intelligence, and enlightened our confiding and- 
rather easily-humbugged countrymen most prodi- 
giously upon oriental subjects, especially in the mys- 
teries of the antique, — in which the learned "ex- 
member" seemed to be so well versed, that he dis- 
cussed their age, merit, present, past, and future state, 
as if he had been one of the family that entered into 
the ark with Noah — came out safe and sound after 
the flood; — and, having had a supervision of every 
thing that has taken place in the world since that 
event, expected to live till the downfall of all things, 
and their final destruction by fire. But when he 
came to the obelisks bearing the name of the cele- 
brated queen of Egypt, it was really an interesting 



THE LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA. 



]53 



point in the learned " ex-member's" discourse. After 
informing us that one obeUsk was still standing, and 
that the other, nearly buried in sand, had been pre- 
sented by the cunning old Pacha of Egypt to half 
the reigning sovereigns in^Europe, who, in return, 
one after the other, had sent the Pacha gold snuff- 
boxes, diamond rings, and other trinkets of great 
value ; and then, finding it impossible to take their 
obelisk away, had left it in the Viceroy's possession, 
still to humbug other princes with — the learned gen- 
tleman went on to state that those two obelisks stood 
in front of the Library of Cleopatra. His descrip- 
tion of the obelisks, and the buildings containing the 
books of the voluptuous queen, was indeed a finished 
specimen of the art of an able lecturer, and it sus- 
tained the character of the " ex-member" wondrously 
well for highly-finished fabrication. Nor did he for- 
get to describe the library, and to tell us that the 
books were a new-year's gift from Mark Antony to 
Cleopatra ; and that they were so numerous at the 
time of the Saracen invasion, when their destruction 
was decreed, that they amply served the four thou- 
sand bathing establishments, which he said then ex- 
isted in Alexandria, six months for fuel ! 

The celebrated library of Alexandria is said to 
have been destroyed three times : once by Caesar, 
once by the Christians, and again by the order of 
Omar, who said, " If these writings of the Greeks 
agree with the book of God (i. e. the Koran), they 
are useless, and need not be preserved : if they disa- 
gree, they are pernicious, and ought to be destroyed." 

Vol. I.— 20 



154 CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES. 

Gibbon, however, after giving the account of its 
destruction by the followers of Mohammed, says : " I 
am strongly tempted to deny both the fact and the 

consequences The rigid sentence of Omar 

is repugnant to the sound and orthodox precept of 
the Mohammedan casuists ; they expressly declare, 
that the rehgious books of the Jews and Christians 
which are acquired by the right of war, should never 
be committed to the flames ; and that the works of 
profane science, historians or poets, physicians or 
philosophers, may be lawfully apphed to the use of 
the faithful/'* 

By other travellers and various authors, the obe- 
Hsks,or Cleopatra's Needles, are said to have stood 
before or in the palace of the Ptolemies ; which, 
after the Roman conquest, was naturally called the 
palace of the Caesars ; and the scattered fragments 
that are still visible there are amply indicative that 
a structure of no ordinary dimensions and richness 
once stood near them. 

Mr. Wilkinsonf says that they are of the time of 
the brilhant reign of Thothmes III. — "one of the 
most remarkable reigns that occur in the history of 
Egypt. He was a prince," continues Mr. Wilkinson, 

* Gibbon says that the famous Library of Alexandria was destroyed with 
the temple of Serapis by the hands of the Christians, under the immediate 
direction of " Theophilus, the perpetual enemy of peace and virtue ; a bold, 
bad man, whose hands were alternately polluted with gold and with blood." 
Theophilus was then upon the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria ; and, in 
pursuance of a decree of Theodosius, pronouncing destruction to the idola- 
trous temples and gods of Alexandria, this zealous functionary of the church 
destroyed the library of the heathens with their deities. — Gibbon's " Decline 
and Fall;' Lond. 4to ed., p. 444 ; ibid. p. 912. 

t Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. i., p. 56, note. 



CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE. 



155 




Cleopatra's Needle. 



156 CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES. 

" who aspired to the merit of benefiting his country 
by an unbounded encouragement of the arts of peace 
and war." This remarkable Pharaoh is supposed to 
have been upon the throne of Egypt at the time of 
the Exodus of the IsraeUtes, w^hich took place, as 
Mr. Wilkinson* supposes, in the fourth year of his 
reign ; and, as these obelisks, as well as others now 
in Rome, and one in Constantinople, together with 
numerous buildings which he founded in Ethiopia, 
Upper and Lower Egypt, besides extensive additions 
which he made to the temples of Thebes, Memphis, 
Heliopohs, Coptos, and other large cities of the coun- 
try, — were all achieved by him subsequently lo the 
departure of the Jews out of Egypt, he concludes 
that Pharaoh could not have been drowned in the 
Red Sea with the Egyptian troops who were pursu- 
ing the hosts of Israel, as related in the Bible.f " In- 
deed," he continues, " there is no authority in the 
writings of Moses for supposing that Pharaoh was 
drowned in the Red Sea ; and from our finding that 
wherever any fact is mentioned in the Bible history 
we do not find any thing on the monuments which 
tends to contradict it, we may conclude that these two 
authorities will not be at variance with each other." 

Pharaoh was doubtless at the head of the Egyp- 
tian armyt at the time of the pursuit ; but whether he 
did or did not enter into the sea with the rest of the 

• Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 54, 55. 

f Exod. xiv. 9, 23 : " But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses 
and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them 
encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth before Baal-zephon. And the 
Egyptians pursued and went in after them, to the midst of the sea, even all 
Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen." X ^^^' xiv. 6-10. 



REIGN OF THOTHMES IH. 157 

Egyptians, who perished amid the overwhelming 
weaves, I do not know that there is any positive rec- 
ord in the Scriptures to determine — though it is 
written that the Lord said unto Moses, "I will hard- 
en the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow 
them ; and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and 
upon all his hosts, upon his chariots, and upon his 
horsemen."* 

If the honour alluded to, in the declaration of the 
Lord to Moses, was to consist in the destruction of 
the Egyptians, it would be a natural inference that it 
was intended to destroy their leader as well as the 
slavish hosts who followed him, and obeyed his com- 
mands ; else the destruction of a few thousand troops, 
and his chariots and horses, could have been no very 
awful affliction, or have occasioned no very great 
degree of embarrassment to a rich and powerful king, 
such as Thothmes IIL was at the time : who then 
had twenty thousand populous cities, and all the im- 
mense resources of the valley of the Nile, from 
whence to have raised and equipped a new army. 

It is true that in the scriptural account of that very 
extraordinary event, no mention is made of Pharaoh's 
entering into the midst of the sea with his army in 
person ; nor in the Song of Moses'f which the Israel- 
ites sung to the Lord on the shores of the Red Sea, 
after their miraculous deliverance and the overthrow 
of the Egyptians, is any mention made of the drown- 
ing or destruction of Pharaoh, further than might be 
conveyed by the destruction of his army. It is said, 

• Exod. xiv. 17. t Ibid. XV. 1. 



158 SUGGESTIONS OF MR. WILKINSON. 

" Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into 
the sea : his chosen captains also are drowned in the 
Red Sea. Tlie depths have covered them: they 
sunk to the bottom as a stone."^ 

The death of so important a personage as the pow- 
erful and hard-hearted Pharaoh, would, as Mr. Wil- 
kinson suggests, have been " an event of sufficient 
consequence at least to have been noticed, and one 
which would not have been omitted."t 

It is also true that David, J in recounting the won- 
derful mercies of the Lord, and in his earnest exhor- 
tation to give thanks to God for particular favours, 
has said that Pharaoh and his host were overthrown 
in the Red Sea ; from which we may infer at least, 
let the fact be as it may, that at the period in which 
David lived, it was the common behef that Pharaoh 
was drowned in the Red Sea, as well as his army. 
Mr. Wilkinson, however, thinks that this testimony 
" can scarcely be opposed to that of Moses ;" when 
the fact is, Moses does not say positively whether 
Pharaoh was drowned or not. 

But the most natural inference in the world would 
be, from the declarations of the Lord to Moses con- 
cerning that wonderful event, and from the other cir- 
cumstances attending it, that Pharaoh was lost with 
his army, and that they all alike shared a common 
grave in the midst of the sea. David, to say the 
least, was as likely to know the truth in regard to an 
event so very extraordinary, and one of such exceed- 

• Exod. XV. 4, 5. t Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. i., p. 56. 

X Psalm cxxxvL 15. 



REIGN OF THOTHMES III. 159 

ing interest to him and his nation, as any, even the 
most intelligent author of our times : and, that he 
supposed Pharaoh was in person destroyed, with his 
chariots, his horses, his entire army, and every thing 
appertaining thereunto, I think there can scarcely be 
a doubt. 

But according to Mr. Wilkinson, this Pharaoh, 
Thothmes III., came back from the disastrous pur- 
suit of the Israelites in safety ; and, after extending 
his arms and authority over Ethiopia and several 
northern nations, from all of which he exacted and 
received an annual tribute (of which fact he informs 
us that the monuments* of Thebes at the present day 
bear ample testimony), he greatly benefited his coun- 
try by a successful cultivation of the arts of peace ; 
embellished it with splendid temples, which he found- 
ed himself; enlarged and greatly adorned those al- 
ready in existence, and raised many statues, obelisks, 
and other monuments, to record and perpetuate the 
glory of his reign ; and that the two venerable obe- 
lisks now in the city of Alexandria, are a part of the 
fragments still existing of the works of art achieved 
under his administration of the affairs of Egypt. 

Unfortunately, in the historical paintings and mon- 
umental erections of ancient nations, there was no 
greater inclination, apparently, to record their own dis- 
asters and defeats, than is manifested among differ- 
ent communities of our time ; else much light might 
have been disclosed in regard to the fact, whe- 
ther Pharaoh was or was not lost with his army in 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. i., pp. 53-56. 



160 GOLD BRACELET OF THOTHMES III. 

the Red Sea, by the recent discoveries in hieroglyph- 
ics on these very obehsks and other monuments sup- 
posed to have been erected soon after the departure 
of the Israelites out of Egypt. But upon this sub- 
ject the sculptures of Egypt are perfectly silent. No 
mention is made of defeats and overthrow's ; but, like 
the historical paintings at Versailles, and many other 
European galleries, victories alone are portrayed, and 
defeats are left to be filled up by those that have 
conquered. 

When we were in Holland, we saw, in the fine 
Egyptian Museum of Ley den, a beautiful gold brace- 
let, bearing the name of King Thothmes III. of 
Egypt. And if he was really the hard-hearted Pha- 




GoLD Bracelet of Thothmes IIL 

raoh that oppressed the Israelites so cruelly, may not 
Moses, who was so frequently commanded to appear 
before him, have seen him in his kingly robes, and 
wearing this same beautiful bracelet 1 

But the obelisks of Alexandria, whether erected 
by order of the Pharaoh who " knew not Joseph," 
and who so sorely afflicted his brethren, or not, are 
nevertheless remarkable monuments; and appear 



INCLINATION OF NATIONS 161 

much more interesting and impressive where they 
now stand, amid the desolation and crumbled ruins 
of an ancient city, than many similar works of art 
which have been transported from Egypt to Europe, 
at a vast expense, and may be seen in Constantino- 
ple, Rome, and Paris, surmounted with crosses, cres- 
cents, and tawdry gilding — commemorative, in their 
present positions, rather of the folly and pampered 
vanity of those who have thus injudiciously removed 
them, than of the munificence and wisdom of worthy 
princes. 

The spirit of pillage and plunder has been in- 
dulged in by all victorious nations, which, by turns, 
have themselves nearly all been plimdered. The 
Persians first plundered the Egyptians ; the Greeks 
the Persians ; the Romans the Greeks ; the French 
laid nearly the whole of Europe under contribution; 
and England has pillaged from all nations. But 
never, I believe, until the formation of the black 
league, and the downfall of Napoleon, was a general 
restoration insisted upon by a combination of princes ; 
and even then, it was only carried into effect to a 
partial extent. The strong governments, and those 
immediately dependant on, or under the protection 
of such as were sufficiently powerful to make them- 
selves respected, got back all the works of art that 
Napoleon had taken from them and carried to Paris 
to enrich the vast and splendid collections of the 
Louvre. France was, of course, stripped and laid un- 
der heavy contributions, while the old landmarks 
were hauled up, old dynasties revived, and a day of 

Vol. L — 21 



162 FOR PLUNDER AND SPOIL. 

restitution instituted ; but its blessings did not extend 
to all. 

The light of some communities that had once 
blazed through the world, was put out for ever. The 
republic of Venice was crushed. She did indeed re- 
ceive back her bronze horses, which in the plenitude 
of her power she had snatched from the lofty portals 
of Constantinople ; and the deathless touches of Ti- 
tian and other of her old painters, were restored to the 
walls where they had hung for centuries before. But 
it was only that a foreign prince might possess them. 
They received the sword and crown of the Emperor 
of Austria with them. They were never to revive 
again as a nation : the black league of Europe had 
otherwise decreed. They were to become an insig- 
nificant appendage to the Austrian empire ; and the 
spoils which the French had collected in the course 
of their invasions of Egypt, were deemed honoura- 
ble and worthy plunder with which to enrich the 
British Museum. The acquisition of these only 
kindled a national taste for the more extensive pillage 
of the defenceless states of the Levant. 

While the resident English ambassador at Con- 
stantinople was engaged in the work of demolition 
and robbery of the Grecian temples, the English 
consul-general at Alexandria was no less assiduous 
in the destruction of those of Egypt, and in empty- 
ing the graves of the dead. Tombs that had rested 
in silence, and which had been respected as sacred 
through the long centuries of Persian, Grecian, Ro- 
man, and Turkish oppression, were now wantonly 



ROBBERY BY THE BRITISH NATION. 



163 



broken into. Coffins were emptied of their dust, 
and sent into a distant land, to gratify the vanity of 
an Enghsh lord. The old monuments of Egypt 
were torn up and broken into fragments, to swell the 
lumber in the British Museum. A double robbery 
was committed by the British nation : first, in pil- 
laging Egypt, and again in the extortions inflicted 
upon their own oppressed people, to pay dearly the 
unworthy hire of the robbers themselves ! 

Who is benefited by all this 1 Are not the beau- 
ty and interest of many gems of art greatly dimin- 
ished — many of the noble achievements of the 
genius and munificence of ancient nations nearly or 
wholly destroyed 1 Is science advanced by it ? Has 
it been the means of establishing free schools in 
England 1 Has it opened her cathedrals to public 
inspection without a fee 1 Is there more political or 
religious freedom enjoyed by the people on that ac- 
count? Has the window-tax been diminished — the 
monopoly of printing the Bible — the duty on bread, 
received any modification on account of this pillage 
among the antiquities of the East? If not, what 
then has been the advantage derived from this reck- 
less plunder and spoil among the venerable remains 
of ancient nations ? 




English Mummy-Pill Factoey. 



164 PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 



CHAPTER XII. 

^'Plagues of Egypt J'^ — An Evening with Mr. Firkins. — 
His Opinion of Mehemet Ali and the Diplomacy of the 
'^ Great Powers.'^ — Jealousy of the Allies, and Mehemet 
AWs Check upon their Diplomatic Intrigues. — Subtlety 
of the Pacha, and the Promises of France. — The P achats 
Government, and its Effects upon the People. 

This, though the last day of December, has been 
like May in New England; really most delightful 
weather. Yet, with all the sunshine, dates, flowers, 
and delicacies of the season, there is a chilliness in 
the evening breeze ; though it is not quite cold 
enough to stiffen the musquitoes, thousands of which 
are buzzing about my ears ; and now and then a flea 
drops in to disturb the monotony of their music. 

"The ' plagues of Egypt' are not quite all out of 
Alexandria yet," said I to Mr. Firkins, who came in 
just at the moment — "although Mehemet Ali has 
had the whole Turkish fleet riding at anchor so near 
the door of his palace, that the smoke from his pipe 
mingles with that from the cannon of the fine sev- 
enty-fours and hundred-and-twenty-gun-ships that 
cut such a capital figure here just now." 

" True," said Mr. Firkins, " Egypt has plagues 
enough in all conscience, decidedly ; and the Eu- 



AN EVENING WITH MR. FIRKINS. 366 

ropean plagues are among the most annoying of them 
all. These ships are decidedly some of the most splen- 
did in the world; and " 

" Well they may be," said I, " for they were built 
by an American : the Americans make some things 
well, and- scarcely any thing better than their ships." 

" Or worse," said Mr. Firkins, " than speculations." 

" True," said I, " Mr. Firkins ; then you have 
heard of some of our whims and follies, even here 
in Egypt?" 

" In Egypt !" replied Mr. Firkins ; "that blue bub- 
ble of painted cities in the woods, and lots in the 
bottom of the sea, is the jest of the whole world. 
My friends in India make a standing joke of Ameri- 
can speculations. In all their letters to me, they 
seem to chuckle over them like a cobbler over his 
beer." 

"But—," 

" But," rejoined Mr. Firkins, " you have not heard 
me through." 

" Pardon," 

" Well, then," continued Mr. F., " these fine ships 
are not among the most annoying * plagues of Egypt,' 
nor are they plagues at all ; what a really brilliant 
display they make !" 

" True," said I, " they do make a fine display ; 
but " 

" But," replied Mr. Firkins, " Mehemet Ali dined 
on board one of these monsters of the deep to-day, 
in company with about three hundred guests, inclu- 
ding all the great men of the country." 



166 MR. FIRKINS'S OPINION OF MEHEMET ALL 

" Indeed !" 

" Yes," continued Mr. Firkins, •• and a most capital 
time they have had of it too. What a thundering 
of guns, and burning of gunpowder ! what a rattling 
of champagne-glasses and coffee-cups ! and above 
all, what a cloud of smoke ascended from the fra- 
grant fumes of three hundred pipes put in active 
blast by Mehemet Ali and his three hundred guests ! 
It was a famous time. No one here supposes that 
the Pacha will give up this splendid fleet ; and, as 
matters now stand, he is a great fool, in my opinion, 
if he does. However, Mehemet Ali is no fool ; and 
France will endorse his protection of the Turkish 
fleet and the brave old admiral, who has thrown 
himself and the Sultan s ships into such fine winter 
quarters." 

"Do you really think so ?" 

"Think so!" replied Mr. Firkins, "I not only 
think so, but I know so. The Pacha has already told 
me as much : not in the same words, to be sure, but 
the same thing." 

"Really!" 

" Certainly he has," continued Mr. Firkins, " and 
all this long-winded, diplomatic, nonsensical entan- 
glement will end, if it ever end at all, in no good. 
England has emancipated her slaves in the West 
Indies, and greatly tightened the chains and fetters 
with which she cruelly tyrannizes over and oppresses 
her millions upon millions of slaves in the East. She 
starves her myriads of peasants at home, and keeps 
up her odious corn-law system to fill the pockets of 



CLAIMS OF THE PACHA. 167 

the rich landed-proprietors, out of the mouths and 
collapsed bellies of her thousands upon thousands of 
wretched subjects in Great Britain, who sleep on the 
ground, live in hovels, burn dirt, clothe in rags, and 
eat what drops to them from the unsteady hand of 
chance ! She is about to marry her virgin Queen 
to a German cousin, which will not probably hghten 
the public burden, already too grievous. She 'pro- 
tects the Ionian islands ;' lords it over Canada ; threat- 
ens to make war upon the trade of her manufactures 
with the United States ; and pledges herself not to 
violate the integrity of the Ottoman empire, Me- 
hemet Ali strokes his long silvery beard, deliberately 
moves his amber pipe from his mouth, gives a signifi^ 
cant whiff, looks out upon his splendid fleet, and says, 
* France will stand by me to the last.' Great bodies 
move the world." 

"And yet," said I, " the emptiest things reverberate 
the loudest sound." 

" Yes, I understand all that well enough," contin- 
ued Mr. Firkins. " But then you must know that 
what the Pacha says, has something more in it than 
mere vague and empty sound. He claims and de- 
mands of the Grand Sultan full and absolute domin- 
ion over Syria and Candia, as well as Egypt; and 
that the undisputed right to reign over all these coun- 
tries shall be hereditary in his family. With the 
Turkish fleet at his door, and his victorious armies 
in Syria, backed by the promises of France, I think 
there can be no doubt of his ultimately obtaining all 
he asks. After all, however, he would not insist upon 



168 DIPLOMACY OF 

breaking off the nominal connexion that still exists 
between him and the Porte ; but would doubtless be 
willing to continue the accustomed tribute and pres- 
ents to the Grand Seignior. To this reasonable de- 
mand of the Pacha, it is said that the Sultan would 
at once most gladly accede, if left to himself. But 
Russia, fearing the consequences to her ambitious 
designs, of so formidable a power as that would be 
in the hands of so able a man as Mehemet AH, 
throws all sorts of obstacles in the way ; and, up to 
the present moment, has prevented the consummation 
of any arrangement whereby the unsettled state of 
eastern affairs might be tranquillized and happily ter- 
minated, without the further effusion of blood. The 
whole affair is now entirely out of the hands of the 
Grand Sultan and his nominal vassal ; and the * five 
powers' have attempted, though thus far ineffectually, 
to manage the whole question in dispute by diplo- 
matic negotiation. At present, however, it is not 
known whether this business will be quietly ar- 
ranged, or result in a general war, in which Eu- 
rope and Asia may again be unfortunately deluged 
in blood. So far, it is said, difficulties have sprung 
up, one after another, sufficiently great to defeat 
even the preliminaries to an amicable and defi- 
nite adjustment. Russia has long had an anxious 
and ambitious eye upon Constantinople, and is in 
hopes, upon the downfall of the Turkish empire (an 
event that must happen, sooner or later), to place her 
foot firmly in that splendid city ; which, once fairly 
beneath her gigantic tread, would become the key 



THE « GREAT POWERS." 3 69 

to the destinies of Europe, if not also to all the vast 
and important countries of the East. France, Eng- 
land, Austria, and Prussia will not consent to any 
measures that will be likely to give Russia the ad- 
vantages of that position. They would therefore, 
for the most part, prefer bringing about an adjustment 
of existing difficulties in the Turkish empire, by di- 
viding the territory between the contending parties, 
to waiting the natural dissolution of it under its 
own immoral weight of corruption, and then run the 
risk of the chances of war : a war which would al- 
most unavoidably immediately ensue. Indeed, there 
would not probably be any difficulty in settling the 
question in accordance with the original resolution 
of the ' five powers,* were it not for the exceeding 
jealousy that exists between the interfering parties 
themselves. Neither of the umpire states is willing 
to trust either of the others with the unrestrained 
power to compel Mehemet Ali to do what was long 
since decided, by the interfering nations, should be 
the only basis of tranquillity to the Turkish empire, 
and peace to Europe : that is, the evacuation of 
Syria by the Egyptian troops, and the unreserved 
surrender of the Turkish fleet. This, the * great 
powers' declared, should be done ; and that, should 
Mehemet Ali refuse to comply with the demand 
when made, he was to be compelled to do it. Al- 
though either of the five powers would gladly enough 
take the thing in hand, and march their troops to 
the frontiers of Egypt, with a view to its accomplish- 
ment ; yet neither is willing to trust any of the others 
Vol. 1—22 



170 THE « GREAT POWERS." 

with the finishing stroke. England says to France, 
* We cannot trust you with the settlement of this 
business, lest, when you have brought the Pacha to 
subjection, you might be inclined to keep possession 
of Egypt' France is equally afraid of the ambitious 
designs of England. She thinks that England would 
be glad to find a plausible pretext for throwing her 
protecting arms over the valley of the Nile, somewhat 
in the same style that she * protects the Ionian isl- 
ands.' Russia opposes all, or either of the other 
powers, in moving in what she thinks her peculiar 
position and proximity to the seat of difficulty espe- 
cially constitute her the natural agent for accom- 
plishing. Again, Austria and all the other powers 
stand out most valiantly against the active interfe- 
rence of Russia, coercively, in the business ; because 
they think they have pretty good evidence for 
beheving that she, after disposing of the Pacha, would 
most probably take care of herself — and would not 
only hold on to the fleet, and perhaps Egypt, but 
would endeavour to keep possession of Turkey into 
the bargain. Indeed, it is said that the ministers of 
the late Sultan were corrupted by the Russian gov- 
ernment ; and only waited to get possession of the 
fleet, in order that they might, on the death of the 
late Sultan, surrender it into the hands of Russia, to- 
gether with Constantinople, and the dominion over 
the Turkish empire. Such is the declared opinion of 
the Capitan Pacha, who commanded the Turkish 
fleet ; and so far from committing what most of the 
world pronounces the basest piece of treachery upon 



GOVERNMENT OF MEHEMET ALL J 71 

record in modern history, he claims to have done a 
patriotic and praiseworthy action, in conducting the 
fleet to Alexandria, and placing it under the protec- 
tion of Mehemet Ah ; who is able to keep it out of 
the hands of Russia, and is ready and willing to ren- 
der the most efficient and essential assistance to the 
Porte. Thus," continued Mr. Firkins, " when rogues 
become suspicious of each other, and disagree, honest 
men get their due : Mehemet Ali keeps what he has 
got, and holds the united threats of the * great pow- 
ers' at naught, and of no great account." 

" But," said I to Mr. Firkins, as he wound off the 
last sentence, " you, living upon such familiar, hand- 
and-glove kind of terms with the Pacha, can hardly 
be considered a fair and impartial judge of his gov- 
ernment and the wisdom of his policy." 

" Perhaps not," said Mr. Firkins, " though I believe 
I am better able to judge of his talents, and the ef- 
fects of his government upon the country, than al- 
most any man in Egypt. Mehemet Ali is now more 
than seventy years of age. He is tyrannical and 
despotic, beyond all manner of doubt. But I be- 
lieve that, with all his tyranny, he has the best in- 
terests of the country at heart, and his government, 
despotic as it may be called, is not the worst gov- 
ernment in the world for Egypt, after all. The 
Pacha is exceedingly energetic, and perseveres in 
whatever he undertakes with most commendable 
activity. The country is improving, and daily be- 
coming more and more productive ; and the Egy|)- 
tians themselves are gradually being brought into a 
state of civilization " 



172 MEHEMET ALI'S REVENUE. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Further Conversation with Mr. Firkins. — Inhabitants, Reve- 
nue, and Education of Egypt. — The Army and Military 
Conscriptions. — Influence and Power of Mehemet Ali. — 
Revolting Expedients of Mothers to exempt their Sons from 
Service in the Army. — Their Cruel Practices rendered 
unavailing'. — One-eyed Regiment. — Pernicious Effects of 
Climate upon the Eye. — Caution to Strangers. — Franks 
mistaken for Conjurers and Physicians. — Eminence and 
Skill of the Ancient Physicians of Egypt. — Fatal Experi- 
ments punished hy Death. — Ancient Quacks. 

" The Pacha," continued Mr. Firkins, " has estab- 
lished manufactories and schools in various parts 
of the country, at a vast expense ; and it is said 
that there are at least twenty thousand Egyptian 
children regularly attending school. His revenue, 
compared w^ith the population of the country, may 
appear, at first sight, rather large. It is said to come 
fully up to X6,000,000 ;* vi^hile the number of in- 

* Wilkinsoa's Egyptians, First Series, ii. 87 : — " With respect to the 
public revenues of Egypt, Diodorus Siculr.s states them to have been, 
in his time, equal to six thousand talents, or about one million two thousand 
pounds." 

Ibid. i. 225 : — " And under Ptolemy Auletes, the father of Cleopatra, the 
revenue amounted to twelve thousand five hundred talents, or between three 
and four millions sterling.'' 



EDUCATION IN EGYPT. 173 

habitants in Egypt will fall somewhat under two 
millions." 

" That, of course," said I, " includes the amount 
of revenue derived from Syria and Candia." 

" Why, as to that matter," said Mr. Firkins, " both 
Syria and Candia, thus far, have been a dead weight 
upon the Pacha's hands, and have cost him a pro- 
digious sum of money. He is obliged to keep up a 
large army, under existing circumstances ; and this 
revenue, though it may seem to be enormous for the 
size of the country, is scarcely enough to defray the 
expenses of the government Besides, this can 
hardly be considered as raised by a tax upon the 
inhabitants of Egypt, since most of the soil and a 
greater proportion of every other species of property 
in Egypt are not only under the control of the Pacha, 
but actually belong to him." 

" So that," said I, " these six millions of pounds ster- 
ling may be considered nothing more or less than the 
nett proceeds of the sale of all the surplus products 
of Egypt, over and above what is required for the 
subsistence of the population of the country." 

"Exactly," rejoined Mr. Firkins ; "just as it is in 
England among the great lords and rich nobles in 
that country. Mehemet Ali, perhaps, is a little more 
extensively engaged in business than they are, and 
conducts it on rather more liberal principles. For 
instance, he has no odious corn-laws ; no minister 
tax ; and he has introduced a system, to some extent, 
of public education. He has sent some of the Arabs 
abroad and educated them at his own expense, and 



174 INHABITANTS OF EGYPT. 

Others he . is instructing at home. These circum- 
stances, together with the advantages of cUmate and 
cheap hread, give the poor people of Egypt a won- 
derful advantage, in point of personal comfort, over 
the wretched peasantry that drag out a miserable ex- 
istence, in want and wo, in many parts of England, 
Scotland, and Ireland. There the climate is so se- 
vere that the poor creatures must not only have bread 
to eat, which often costs them more than all they 
can earn, with the greatest care, prudence, and indus- 
try, but they must have clothes of some kind ; and 
houses to live in that will keep out the storm. The 
peasantry of Great Britain must also have fuel to 
wai'm their houses, or they will freeze to death in 
winter. But here in Egypt, the real wants of the 
poor people are fewer, and satisfied much more easily. 
The delicious water of the Nile, more healthful than 
London porter, is free to all ; and the article of bread, 
the great thing with the poor in all countries, is about 
five hundred per cent, cheaper in Egypt than in Eng- 
land. As regards houses, the inhabitants of the up- 
per country have very little need of any at all ; and 
give them a little butter or some kind of oil* to grease 

* Wilkinson's Egyptians, vol. iii. 379 : — " The custom of anointing the 
body is usual in hot climates, and contributes greatly to comfort. Even the 
Greeks, Romans, and others, whose limbs were mostly covered with clothes, 
and protected from the dryness of the air, found the advantage of its use ; and 
those whose skins were much exposed, in consequence of their scanty cloth- 
ing, as the Ethiopians and other inhabitants of Africa, felt the necessity of 
softening and cooling the skin by the application of oils or ointments ; and 
we find the custom most prevalent among the blacks who wear the least 
covering to their bodies. The highest ambition of the Ethiopians is to ob- 
tain a sufficient quantity of grease, whatever kind it may be, to cover their 



CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 175 

their backs, to keep the sun from scorching the skin, 
and they will do very well without clothes. Tobac- 
co is so cheap, that there are few persons in Egypt 
who do not smoke ; and the Pacha regulates the price 
of sugar and coffee, and keeps them at such mode- 
rate rates, that all drink coffee, and sweeten it too. 
Latterly the Pacha has shown a disposition to give 
to some few intelligent foreigners an opportunity of 
becoming proprietors of the rich soil of Egypt, on 
most advantageous terms. That show^s his wis- 
dom and good feeling toward the Egyptians, inas- 
much as he receives a more certain and sure return ; 
and the people themselves, who in all cases go with 
the soil, are much better off under the administration 
and government of the Franks, with the supervision 
of the Pacha, than they can be under the unjust rule 
and dishonest robbery of the Turkish governors and 
tax-gatherers. The Pacha, under present circum- 
stances, with his effective and numerous land forces, 
added to his now respectable navy, presents a power 
not to be despised. He unites with this power- 
ful army and formidable naval strength, much mili- 
tary skill, and great diplomatic shrewdness ; so that 
the old fox is not likely to be caught in a trap, or 
gulled into any measures that will not, in the end, 
promote his own views, and augment his interest 
The probability is, that he will hold on to all that he 
now has in his possession ; and that he will make 
pretty good use of it, for the acquisition of more ex- 
head, and to run down upon their shoulders, so as to give them a shining 
gloss, which they delight to display as they walk in the sun." 



176 POWER OF THE PACHA. 

tensive power and increased dominion. He is a man 
of genius and great energy of character — carrying 
out all his great plans of subjugation and improve- 
ment, with the most indefatigable zeal and determined 
perseverance. Few are in his secret councils. To- 
day, he is in Alexandria ; to-morrow, he may be 
rapidly pushing up the Nile, or stretching over the 
sea to Candia. No one can anticipate his move- 
ments ; and it is this astonishing rapitlity of locomo- 
tion from one place to another, wherever his presence 
appears to be most dreaded by the vicious, and most 
needed by the well-disposed part of the community, 
that surprises the people. From the shores of the 
Nile to the deepest recesses of the desert, they fear 
and tremble at his presence. Even the trackless 
and arid sands of the wilderness, to a great extent, 
his armies have traversed, and tamed in their course 
the wild men of those almost inaccessible wastes. 
Such now is the fear of the formidable power of Me- 
hemet Ali, that in the cheerless desert, where once it 
would have been almost sure destruction to have ven-. 
tured unattended by a large military escort, or unac- 
companied by an extensive caravan, it is now quite 
safe, and comparatively comfortable, to travel unat- 
tended and alone. Those wild, wandering marau- 
ders of the burning sands of Arabia, are now often 
seen giving up their vile pursuits of plunder and mur- 
der, settling down upon the banks of the Nile, and 
engaging in agriculture and other rational pursuits of 
civilized life. Such are the good effects of the pow- 
er and influence of this despotic prince. It is really 



MILITARY CONSCRIPTIONS. 177 

astonishing to notice the aptitude of those Arabs for 
any thing that they earnestly undertake, and with 
what surprising facihty they make themselves mas- 
ters of any thing that promises to be of service to 
them. Nothing is more common than to meet Arabs 
who can readily speak five or six different languages ; 
and, in all matters of farming, house and boat-build- 
ing, trafficking, carrying produce, merchandise, and 
travellers from one part of the country to the other, 
they show themselves exceedingly capable and effi- 
cient, and manifest a degree of shrewdness and in- 
teUigence that is certainly quite remarkable. The 
inhabitants of Egypt are completely subjected to the 
will, and, if you please, whim and caprice of Me- 
hemet Ali. He can take them, in any numbers, 
without regard to sex, age, or condition, and convert 
them to any purpose that he chooses ; and no one 
has the power to raise the least obstacle in opposi- 
tion to his wish. His army is recruited, as occasion 
requires, from the youth of the country, taken at an 
early age from their parents, and trained up express- 
ly for the service. To this service, the ignorance 
and blind prejudices of the people have manifested 
the strongest aversion. So extraordinary has been 
this strange antipathy against serving in the Pacha's 
army, that a most horrid and revolting practice has 
been introduced to a considerable extent among some 
of the poor ignorant parents ; who, upon the birth of 
a son, immediately destroy the sight of one eye of 
the child, by probing it with a hot needle !" 

" Can that be true V said I to Mr. Firkins. 

Vol. L — 23 



178 REVOLTING EXPEDIENTS. 

" Nothing can be more so," replied he ; " and to 
such an alarming extent had this horrid practice pre- 
vailed, that at length it attracted the Pacha's notice. 
He inquired into the cause of so many cases of par- 
tial blindness among his subjects'? Upon ascertain- 
ing the cause, he at once resolved to do something to 
counteract the motive that induced these poor crea- 
tures thus to destroy the sight of their offspring ; and 
he immediately ordered a regiment of able-bodied, 
one-eyed soldiers to be raised and drilled for the ser- 
vice. This took them all by surprise ; for those who 
had so cruelly extinguished an eye of each of their 
children, thought that they were performing an act 
of humanity toward the maimed offspring — as they 
supposed, beyond a doubt, that they had exempted 
them from the military service, for which they have 
the most intolerable hatred. But they saw them- 
selves completely foiled by the Pacha's shrewdness, 
and their half-blind children dragged into the service, 
and obliged to endure all' the dangers and hardships 
of the camp, notwithstanding what they had already 
sufifered in their most tender years to disqualify them 
for it, at the cruel hand of parental kindness. Many 
of them became desperate ; and I understand a cus- 
tom has latterly prevailed to an alarming extent, 
which is still more abominable ; and that is, of extin- 
guishing both eyes of the male infants ! This is a 
dreadful practice, to be sure ; but the mothers say 
that their sons, though blind, will be able to get a 
Uving, by carrying water from the Nile, and that they 
shall always have the pleasure of their society — 



DISEASES OF THE EYE. 



179 



whereas, had they not put out their eyes, they would 
doubtless, in the course of a few months, have been 
dragged into the service of the Pacha, and they, in 
all probability, would never see them again. This 
shows what an ignorant and blinded people the Pacha 
has to deal with. But what method he will adopt to 
counteract this dreadful and revolting practice, and 
at the same time avail himself of the services of those 
blind and miserable beings, is quite impossible to say. 
Yet it is most probable he will devise some plan that 
will meet the case, to render abortive the intention of 
his misguided subjects. Besides putting out one or 
both eyes of their male children, as is very frequently 
the case among Egyptian mothers, in order to exempt 
them from doing military duty, they often save both 
eyes, and cut off one or two of the first fingers of the 
right hand, to effect the same end ; and that is one 
reason why we see so many blind, half-blind, and 
maimed men and boys idling away their time in the 
streets of Alexandria." 

There are other causes which are scarcely less 
/atal to the eyes, though much less to the fingers. 
In addition to this barbarous mode of for ever extin- 
guishing one of the most glorious and pleasing senses 
that the Creator has bestowed upon mankind, there 
are other annoyances in this peculiar country which 
operate very unfavourably upon the sight, from which 
many persons become totally blind at a very early 
age ; and thousands are afflicted with permanent dis- 
eases of the eye, which are disgusting and painful 
even to look at. There is something in the atmos- 



180 EFFECTS OF CLIMATE UPON THE EYE. 

phere that weakens and predisposes the eye to dis- 
ease. Besides, the exceeding power and brightness 
of the sun's rays in this part of the world irritate 
and strain the sight of all residents in Egypt, but 
particularly that of strangers ; and that too before 
they are aware of it. Many have found their vision 
so weakened, before they were made acquainted with 
the danger, that they have found it almost impossible 
to restore it to its original strength and brilliancy ; 
while many other too long neglected cases have re- 
sulted in total blindness. Therefore every precaution 
should be taken to guard against the pernicious ef- 
fects of the Egyptian climate upon the eye, and to 
ward off the danger as much as possible, especially 
when first entering the country. Green veils answer 
a very good purpose to use when exposed to the sun 
and dust, and they are much worn, both by men and 
women — that is, by Europeans, though the natives 
of the country, I believe, never take the least pre- 
caution in regard to this or any other disease. They 
are the most perfect fatalists in existence. If at- 
tacked by any malady, they tamely submit to its ope-» 
ration, and wait the result with a sombre and wretch- 
ed countenance, and a mind weighed down with 
despair. They do not think that they themselves 
have any power over diseases, and they have no 
physicians ; though they will place the most implicit 
faith in what the Franks will say or do for them 
w^hen sick ; and they take them all for conjurers and 
doctors. 

How different was the case with the ancient Egyp- 



ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PHYSICIANS. 181 

tians !* They had numerous and eminent physicians 
for every disease, and paid the greatest attention to 
heakh, and the treatment of their different maladies. 
Physicians were anciently supported from the public 
treasury ; though they might receive presents, and 
sometimes fees, from their patients. There was a 
regular course of study required of the physician, 
before he could legally enter upon the practice of his 
profession, as is the case in all well-regulated com- 
munities at the present day. All experiments, or 
modes of treatment contrary to the established sys- 
tems of practice, that proved fatal to the patients, 
were rigorously punished with the execution of the 
physician. Persuaded that most diseases, proceed 
from irregularity in diet, the old Egyptians had fre- 
quent recourse to fasting and abstinence, as well as 
slight doses of medicine for the relief of the system. 
The physicians were doubtless skilful, and the 
practice of medicine was under salutary regulations. 
Their duties, in addition to the treatment of the dif- 
ferent maladies of the people, extended to the embalm- 
ingt of the bodies after death. The medical skillj: 
of the ancient physicians of Egypt was known and 
appreciated in foreign countries ; for Cyrus and Da- 
rius are said to have sent to Egypt for physicians. 
The representations of the practice of medicine upon 
the tombs of Egypt are, however, very slight, and 

* Wilkinson's Egyptians, First Series, vol. iii. p. 389. 
t Genesis 1. 2 : " And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to 
embalm his father ; and the physicians embalmed Israel.'* 
i WDkinson's Egyptians, First Series, vol. iii. p. 393. 



182 ANCIENT QUACKS. 

only occur in one or two instances ; and these are in 
the tombs of Beni Hassan. 

Egypt was famed for its drugs and medicinal herbs, 
found in the desert between the Nile and the Red 
Sea, many of which are still known to the Arabs, 
though little is understood at the present day of their 
application anciently. These, however, were not 
always sovereign remedies : for the balm of Gilead* 
was recommended with the assurance that it was use- 
less to take many medicines. Physicians were com- 
mon in the days of the prophecsf without doubt; 
though at the present day there are none in all 
Syria. 

There were also quacksf among the ancient, as 
well as among the modern inhabitants of the world, 
and the sufferings of the patients under their abom- 
inable and unskilful treatment, were many and vari- 
ous. When the skill of the physician was com- 
pletely baffled, and the patient given over to die, 
dreams§ were regarded in Egypt with religious rev- 
ence ; and the prayers of the devout were often re- 
warded by the gods with an indication of the reme- 
dies their sufferings required. Dreams and magic, 
however, were a last resource, and only resorted to 
when all other remedies had failed of success. Simi- 
lar feelings of superstition induced them to offer ex- 
votos in their temples for the same purpose. 

* Jeremiah viii. 22. 

f Ibid. : " Is there no balm in Gilead ? is there no physician there ?" 

:f Job xiii. 4 : " But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value." 
Mark v. 26 : " And had suffered many things of many physicians ; and 
had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse." 

§ Wilkinson's Egyptians, First Series, iii. 394. 



QUACKERY IN EGYPT. 183 

These offerings were of various descriptions. Ma- 
ny promised a certain sum for the maintenance of the 
sacred animals belonging to the deity, whose interpo- 
sition they had invoked ; which, in the case of the 
children, was decided by weighing a certain portion 
of the hair of the head, with all, or half, or a third, 
shaved expressly for the purpose ; and as soon as the 
cure had been effected, they accomplished their 
vows, by giving an equal amount of silver to the 
curators. 

These persons often visited different parts of the 
country, bearing the banners of their respective dei- 
ties ; and the peasantry, through their credulity, being 
often induced to solicit their aid, and to barter the 
uncertain assistance of the god, for the real rewards 
lavished upon his artful servants, much money was 
collected by them. So profitable was this imposi- 
tion, that neither the simplicity of Islam, nor the 
change of religion has been able to abolish the cus- 
tom ; and the guardians of the sheiks' tombs in like 
manner send their emissaries with flags and drums 
to different parts of the country, to levy contributions 
from the credulous, in return for the promised assist- 
ance of their patron saint. When the cure was ef- 
fected, it was the custom to suspend a model of the 
restored part, in the temple of the god whose inter- 
position had been solicited. This is likewise the 
custom in the sheiks' tombs of modern Egypt ; in 
the Roman Catholic churches in Italy; and in other 
churches in various parts of Europe ; and wooden 
ears, eyes, and distorted limbs are suspended about 



184 ANCIENT BOOKS UPON MEDICINE. 

the churches dedicated to the patron saint, as me- 
morials of their gratitude and superstition. 

"Indeed," says Mr. Wilkinson, "the study of 
medicine and surgery appears to have commenced 
at a very early period in Egypt, since Athothes, the 
second king of the country, is stated to have written 
upon the subject of anatomy ; and the schools of 
Alexandria continued, till a late period, to enjoy the 
reputation, and display the skill they had inherited 
from their predecessors. Hermes was said to have 
written six books upon medicine, the first of which 
related to anatomy ; and the various recipes, known 
to have been beneficial, were recorded with their 
peculiar cases, in the memoirs of physic, inscribed 
among the laws which were deposited in the princi- 
pal temple of the place, as at Memphis, in that of 
Pthah, or Vulcan."* 




Physicians of Egypt. 
• Wilkinson's Egyptians, First Series, iii. 396. 



UNPLEASANT NEWS. 



185 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Unpleasant JYews. — Disappointment. — Reflections. — Un- 
propitious Visit. — Mutual Surprise. — " Sudden, Serious 
Illness'^ of a Consul not so Serious as was apprehended. — 
Embarrassing Interview. — .Animated Conversation of Mr. 
Firkins and Mr. O'Statten abruptly terminated. — Brilliant 
Party of Pleasure. — Mr. Firkins in a Rage. — Ride to the 
Palace of Mehemet Ali. — Way to make an Impression. — 
Palace and Guards of the Pacha. — Officers of State. — 
Dress and Address of Mehemet Ali. 

While we were taking our coffee the next morn- 
ing, and throwing out some conjectures with regard 
to what would be the proper dress to wear, and the 
etiquette to be observed, in our audience with the 
Pacha — which, according to the promise of our 
friend the Dane, was arranged to take place that day 
— we were greatly pained at the receipt of a note, 
by the hand of a messenger, stating that the Danish 
gentleman " had been taken suddenly very seriously 
ill ; and that he would not be able to do himself the 
honour of presenting us to the Pacha, according to 
the arrangement of yesterday." 

" Suddenly seriously ill !" said the doctor, as he 
held the note in his hand ; " he must be down with 
the plague!" 

Vol. I.— 24 



186 MORAL REFLECTIONS. 

" I hope not," said I, " but I am really grieved to 
hear that this fine gentlemanly man is indisposed ; he 
appeared so very affable and friendly to us yesterday, 
and so desirous to do something for our gratification 
during our short stay in the city, that I have begun to 
feel a deep interest in the gentleman, and I am very 
sorry to hear this intelligence of his sudden, serious 
indisposition." 

What seemed to add not a little to our alarm, and 
to confirm more strongly the circumstance of his 
" serious illness" vi^as, that the note w^as not written 
by the gentleman himself, but by another person ; 
thereby carrying the idea upon the face of it, that his 
''sudden illness' was indeed so '' serious'' that he was 
unable to write ; and, possibly, far gone with some of 
those sudden and awful diseases so prevalent in the 
East. 

The doctor observed, that in Egypt, the operation 
of " sudden, serious' diseases was generally very rapid 
in progress ; insomuch, that very often persons in 
equally good health as the acting American consul 
appeared to be yesterday, have been laid in their 
graves ere twenty-four hours had elapsed thereafter. 

" How very true it is," said Mrs. C, " that ' in the 
midst of life we are in death !' No one knows what 
an hour may bring forth ; health is no security against 
* sudden disease, the horrors of death, and the cheer- 
less abode of the grave ! How insignificant and 
vain are all earthly prospects, and how very suddenly 
may their brightest promise be blasted and withered 
for ever ! Man has verily but a few days to live, and 



MORAL REFLECTIONS. 187 

Is full of sorrow ; blooming fresh and beautiful to-day, 
and to-morrow, perhaps, the places that once knew 
him will know him never more !" 

"Nothing," rejoined the doctor, "can be more 
true ; and it behooves us all to be also ready. We 
are in a strange land, a land where the mysterious 
feet of sudden and fearful diseases walk in darkness 
and waste at noonday. No man, however cautious, 
is secure against the sudden and fearful attacks of 
the strange diseases peculiar to this climate and coun- 
try. Many are the victims that have fallen a sacri- 
fice to them in these desolate, wild, and inhospitable 
wastes." 

" True," said I ; " the present is indeed all we can 
call our own, and happy will it be for us if we im- 
prove it aright. There are, however, certain duties 
that we owe to our fellow-men, under all circum- 
stances of this existence ; and none, perhaps, are more 
sacred, or strictly enjoined, than those of visiting and 
ministering to our friends and neighbours in their 
sicknesses and afflictions. I do not know that we 
can be of the least service in the world to this Da- 
nish gentleman, taken so 'suddenly and seriously ill;'' 
but we can at least go over to his palace and inquire 
after the state of his health, and ascertain some par- 
ticulars, perhaps, in regard to the nature of his dis- 
ease—which, after all, I am in hopes is not so serious 
as is apprehended." 

" Very good," said the doctor ; " we can do no 
less than to call at his office, and inquire how he 
is." 



188 VISIT TO THE AMERICAN CONSULATE. 

We accordingly mounted the donkeys which our 
valiant dragoman had already saddled at the door, 
and rode over to the palace of the American con- 
sulate. 

The feather-edge of the new dragoman's grit hav- 
ing been worn off a little, in his quarrels with the 
donkey-boys, and his feats of valour among the tombs, 
in our excursion to Pompey's Pillar the day previous, 
he was more tranquil and mild in his deportment and 
bearing toward those needful accompaniments to a 
donkey-ride on this occasion ; so that, with the ex- 
ception of a slight scuffle and a few cuts of the cor- 
bash, at starting, nothing took place to interrupt our 
meditations and serious apprehension for the safety 
and welfare of our new and valued friend, until we 
arrived in front of his palace. 

Not expecting to have the pleasure, on that day, 
of meeting the Danish gentleman, after whose 
health we felt such a natural and anxious solici- 
tude, if indeed we were ever to see him again on 
this side the grave (for sudden, serious illness, in Egypt, 
too frequently, alas! ends in sudden death) — we 
hurried up stairs, and entered the office, without pre- 
viously sending in our names, as we had done the day 
before, and as we should have done on this occasion, 
had it been an ordinary case, or with the least ex- 
pectation of finding the presiding genius of the Ameri- 
can consulate in his " official seat." Judge, therefore, 
our mutual surprise, at seeing our new friend, about 
whom we had made ourselves serious over our break- 
fast, and conjured up so many unhappy forebodings, 



AN UNPROPITIOUS VISIT. 189 

seated at his desk, with his goose-quill behind his ear, 
in as perfect health, apparently, as ever fell to the lot 
of a human being to enjoy ! 

In our surprise and joy to see this gentleman so 
far removed from the danger that we had imagined 
him to be in from the tenor of the note, we advanced 
and saluted him in the most cordial manner. It 
seemed like welcommg; an estimable being from the 
jaws of death — from the sorrows of the tomb — and 
restoring him to the charms and blessings of life. 
For the moment, the feeling that rushed through our 
bosoms might not be unlike that glow of tenderness 
that quickened the pulsations of the parent's heart 
at the return of the prodigal son, when the fatted 
calf was killed, and music and dancing gladdened 
the hearts of the young ; and festivity and joy reigned 
throughout the paternal mansion. We would almost 
say, that, although " thou wert lost, thou art found 
again ; you are safe, and we rejoice that our idle ap- 
prehensions were unfounded." 

After the first salutation, and the impulses of the 
moment had passed, we found that our friend did not 
appreciate our emotions at all. He seemed to be 
embarrassed ; said nothing about his influence with 
the Pacha, or of our introduction to him ; tried to 
turn the conversation upon the favourable change of 
the weather, and other general subjects ; but in so un- 
easy a style, as to render it impossible for him to get on 
without awkwardness ; and his smile seemed to be 
as embarrassing to him as any thing else. It did not 
fit his face at all, the features of which had so changed, 



190 SOLUTION OF A MYSTERY. 

that it was apparently quite out of his power to bring 
it into a controllable shape. He was best at grave 
subjects, and his words were few. He frequently 
changed his position ; drew himself up to his full 
length in his chair, and then suddenly let himself 
down almost to the floor : first throwing one leg over 
the other, and turning half way round, and then 
quickly changing his position, he swung round on 
the other side ; thrust his fingers through his hair, 
blew his nose, and was at a loss what next to say 
or do. 

By this time we came to a right understanding of 
the case, and saw tl^ough the whole mystery. It 
was getting more and more embarrassing for us all, 
every moment ; and, to veheve our new friend and 
ourselves from the agonie& of a prolonged interview, 
we took leave of him, satisfied that all the fair prom- 
ises of the day before were n\ade, like pie-crust, only 
to be broken ; and that his gracious words, mellow 
smiles, and all the soft blandishiaents of his compli- 
ments, were " more for ornament than use." 

As we were to leave Alexandria in a few days af- 
terward, we did not think it best to inquire after the 
acting American consul's health again; nor have we 
had the pleasure of seeing him from that day to this. 
When we came down from the presence-chamber 
of the American consulate, we saw Mr. Firkins and 
Mr. O'Statten standing a little way from the Dane's 
palace, conversing in a very energetic manner, and 
in a tone of voice that might have been heard at the 
distance of many rods in all directions. From the 



AN ANIMATED CONVERSATION. 191 

elevated tone of their conversation, I judged it was 
no very confidential chit-chat ; and that it would be 
no breach of politeness to walk up and inquire after 
their health and the news of the day. I accordingly 
saluted them, and was received in a cordial manner. 
After the usual salutations and inquiries, they resumed 
the thread of their discourse, and went on, reflecting 
in the severest terms upon the characters of all the 
Wrinklebottoms, Mr. Sneezebiter,Mr. O'Screensbury, 
the Rev. Mr. 'Dunderblix, Sir Danbury Rimtaper 
and his three sisters the Misses Rimtaper, and twen- 
ty other names that I had never heard of before, all 
of whom they represented as the very quintessence 
and oil of pride, self-conceit, vulgarity, ignorance, 
and meanness. 

It seemed that all these personages had been ma- 
king very free with the sumptuous dinners and fine 
old port and sherry of Mr. Firkins, and had done 
very little business with him in other respects. This 
was a breach of good breeding and manly feeling, 
which Mr. Firkins and his vicegerent Mr. O'Statten 
could not pass over in silence. Such was their style 
of discussing the virtues and claims to title and con- 
sequence of these English gentlemen and ladies, thai 
I was really shocked that Mr. Firkins should have 
condescended to associate with such disreputable 
characters in any way ; and moreover that he should 
have invited them to his house, introduced them to 
Mrs. Firkins, and then, day after day, treated them 
with the greatest civility, and in the most cordial 
manner. 



192 AN UNEXPECTED MEETING. 

" What," thought I, " can all this mean ? These 
people can be none other than disreputable, unwor- 
thy folks, whose real characters Mr. Firkins has just 
found out, and it is no wonder that he is indig- 
nant at the gross imposition ; but I am sure there is 
an end now to all further intercourse, for certainly 
Mr. Firkins will have nothing to say to them again, 
nor Mr. O'Statten either." 

Just at that moment, who should emerge from the 
street near the consul's palace, and turn into the 
great European Square near the spot where we then 
stood, and mounted on donkeys, with several armed 
janizaries, and a large train of Arab servants and 
donkey-drivers, but all the Wrinklebottoms, Mr. 
O'Screensbury, and one or two other English gentle- 
men with large blue stocks, breast-pins, straw hats, 
and linen great-coats, whom I did not know, and had 
never before seen ! Their sudden apparition, how- 
ever, put a stop to the spirited comments of Mr. Fir- 
kins and Mr. O'Statten, who immediately advanced 
toward the party with their hats raised, bowing, scra- 
ping, and letting out their good-natured salutations 
and wishes, mingled profusely with the most fascina- 
ting smiles and respectful looks, attitudes, and ges- 
tures, that the human face and figure can well be 
worked into ! 

1 did not know how to account for conduct so 
singular. They all appeared to be delighted to see 
each other, and the Misses Wrinklebottom looked 
more charming than ever — really very fresh and 
blooming — insomuch that Mr. O'Statten was taken 



f 
MR. FIRKINS IN A RAGE. 193 

all aback by their bewitching ogles and smiles ; and 
he ordered another donkey, joined the party, and 
rode off to point out to them more of the lions of the 
town. 

Mr. Firkins stood in the square, with his hat off, 
bowing and waving adieus, until the long, brilliant, 
and happy party had got almost out of sight, when 
he suddenly turned round, pulled his hat deeply over 
his head, and began to curse and swear in the most 
bitter manner. He was in a dreadful rage with all 
the party, and talked as bad about Mr. O'Statten as 
any of the rest of them. 

I could not help thinking that there is no account- 
ing for the whims and oddities of the world. Here 
is Mr. Firkins, all smiles and affability one moment, 
and all anger and chagrin the next ; and all about 
the same thing. Either these English ladies and 
gentlemen must be an abominable set, or they are 
not so bad as they are represented to be ; but after 
what has taken place this morning, what can one 
think of Mr. Firkins and Mr. O'Statten 1 

As I was ruminating upon this subject, I drew off 
from Mr. Firkins, who still continued scolding and 
swearing about the Wrinklebottoms, the Rev. Mr. 
Dunderblix, Mr. O'Statten, and many others, whom 
he denounced most cordially, all in a heap, as a set 
of rascals ; then taking each name separately, he con- 
signed it to a deep and awful destination, loaded with 
the most violent and horrid execrations that I ever 
heard uttered by human lips ! It was really an awful 
scene. 

Vol. T. — 25 



I 

194 CONVERSATION WITH MR. FIRKINS. 

We mounted the donkeys, and the noise of our 
dragoman, getting the boys in trim to suit his taste 
in these matters, had the effect to arouse Mr. Firkins 
from his revery among the infernal regions, and to 
notice our intended departure. Upon which he hght- 
ened his hat a httle from his brow, left off cursing 
and swearing, and, approaching us with a smile, 
wanted to know if we had seen the Pacha 1 We, of 
course, answered in the negative. 

" What," said he, " are you going to leave Alexan- 
dria without seeing the Pacha!" 

We replied that our time was necessarily limited, 
and we were to depart for the upper country so soon, 
that we must forego the pleasure at present, in hopes 
that his Highness might find it necessary to visit 
Cairo during the winter — when, perhaps, it might 
be our good fortune to get a glimpse of him in that 
city ; but under present circumstances, we did not 
think it probable that we should be able to see him 
in Alexandria. 

" Why," said Mr. Firkins, " it is the easiest thing 
in the world to see the Pacha ; and, if you leave this 
city without seeing him, you will regret it all the 
days of your hves." 

" But how is it to be accomplished ?" I asked ; " we 
depart in a day or two, and there is in the mean time 
no public fete in which his Highness will appear ; 
therefore I cannot imagine how it is possible for us 
to get a look at him." 

" True," said Mr. Firkins, " but I can bring it about, 
notwithstanding. I sometimes present strangers to 



KINDNESS OF MR. FIRKINS. 195 

the Pacha myself, but it is only when the consuls re- 
fuse to present their countrymen, that I interfere in 
the business ; and in such cases, when asked, I al- 
w^ays obtain an audience of his Highness, and present 
them." 

We kept very quiet about the " sudden, serious ill- 
ness' of our friend the Dane ; nor did we say any 
thing about his strong desire to do something for us, 
to render our short stay in Alexandria more agreea- 
ble. We thought it better to pass over that business 
as lightly as possible ; for the Dane was now out of 
danger, and we were pretty sure that he would not 
be '^ taken suddenly very seriously ilV on our account 
again, if we were never to see the Pacha till the final 
adjustment of the eastern question. 

So we let Mr. Firkins run on with the old story 
of his influence and intimacy with the Pacha, and 
the frequency and confidence of his interviews with 
his Highness at the palace ; and how he was in all 
the state secrets and intrigues of the court ; and fore- 
told coming events with such accuracy, that when 
he was not taken for a prophet, he was at least put 
down as a fortune-teller and very skilful conjurer. 
We had heard this egotistical, puffy narrative at least 
twenty times before, and began to think that it had 
lost much of its freshness and all the charms of nov- 
elty. We supposed he would run out of that kind 
of ware at last, and after a while come down upon 
the only thing that we cared much about — an op- 
portunity to see the Pacha. We sat on our donkeys, 
and patiently listened to Mr. Firkins till he had fairly. 



196 PREPARATIONS FOR A VISIT. 

got through the whole story from beginning to end, 
teUing some parts of it two or three times over ; and 
he had actually commenced it anew, with a view, as 
we supposed, of going over the whole ground again, 
with suitable revisions, comments, and emendations, 
copious enough to consume the day. 

I looked the doctor in the face at this juncture 
of our affairs, and observed that his nerves were suf- 
fering considerably on account of future prospects ; 
and, as we exchanged looks, the brave dragoman 
came to our rescue amid an uproarious quarrel with 
the donkey-boys, which completely broke in upon 
Mr. Firkins's second, revised, and emended edition, 
and spared us the pain of listening to it, or of the 
impoliteness of interrupting him, with a view of 
turning the conversation upon other subjects. 

Seeing a favourable opportunity to slip in a word, 
I did not fail to improve it; and again asked Mr. 
Firkins how we were to get a ghmpse of the Pacha 1 

" O, nothing easier," replied Mr. Firkins ; " wait a 
moment, until I order my donkey and a janizary or 
two from the English consulate, and I will take you 
down to the Pacha's palace directly." 

He hurried off to give the necessary directions, 
and in a few moments rode up to us, mounted on a 
fine donkey, with a good English saddle, and silver 
ornamented bridle, with little bits of red stream- 
ers floating from the headstall, which set off the long 
ears of his animal, and gave the tout ensemhle a very 
cheerful and picturesque appearance. Mr. Firkins's 
feet were stuck deep into a large pair of silver-plated 



RIDE TO THE PALACE OF THE PACHA. 197 

Stirrups, which nearly touched the ground, and were 
rather a drawback upon his personal attraction ; 
otherwise he would have appeared to very good ad- 
vantage. The janizaries coining up, with their gir- 
dles stuffed with loaded pistols, long Turkish sabres 
dangUng at their sides, high silver-mounted staves, 
and richly-embroidered dresses, of red, blue, and 
white colours, ornamented with gold lace, and set off 
with ample turbans, — and, placing themselves at the 
head of our little cavalcade, we began to move down 
toward the Pacha s palace. 

" What is he about ?" said the doctor to me in an 
under tone of voice, as we fell a little in the rear of 
Mr. Firkins ; who, with a tall, picturesquely- dressed 
janizary on each side of him, was moving on with 
great apparent self-satisfaction — " Mr. Firkins is not 
intending to attempt a presentation, surely T' 

" Really," said I, " I am quite at a loss to determine. 
It is better, however, I think, to follow his directions 
in the matter, and see what will come of it. I don't 
think there is much danger of any 'sudden, serious 
illness on the part of Mr. Firkins, for he seems to be 
too well pleased with his own appearance to stop 
short of the palace, I am sure ; and when there, it is 
of course quite impossible to tell, at this distance, 
what turn things will take." 

Thus we proceeded on through the thickest part 
of the town, while the natives gazed at us with won- 
der. Mr. Firkins issued his orders in a loud and 
commanding tone to his janizaries, at short intervals, 
to clear the way of the rabble before us ; which, upon 



198 WAY TO MAKE AN IMPRESSION. 

a threatening display of the canes of the janizaries, 
scattered in all directions. 

We rode along in this formal and stately order, and 
finally reached the palace without accident, or even 
a quarrel between the dragoman and donkey-boys. 
The fact is, the fine appearance of the janizaries, 
from the English consulate, who were leading off the 
cavalcade, produced the most mortifying effect upon 
Selim. He rather sought the friendly alliance of the 
donkey-boys, than their enmity ; and endeavoured to 
atone for his former cruelty toward them, by tender 
looks and good-natured actions. But he had little 
or nothing to say ; and when he looked forward to 
the elevated position of the janizaries, it was evi- 
dently with feelings of bitter jealousy. 

We arrived in front of the Pacha's palace, which 
stands quite upon the water's edge, overlooking the 
harbour, much of the town, and the Isle of Pharos ; 
and found it full of soldiers and mounted guards, 
dressed in the oriental costume. They were armed 
to the teeth, and their long mustachios gave them a 
fierce and savage appearance. 

Mr. Firkins boldly wheeled round to the left, and 
dashed up to the broad steps of the palace, with a 
flourish of janizaries' canes and John-Bull blustering, 
that brought the eyes of every person in the court- 
yard instantly upon us. This seemed to be exceed- 
ingly gratifying to Mr. Firkins, who, in common with 
most of his countrymen, imagined that when they 
have blustered about sufficiently to attract the public 
gaze, an important point is gained ; and that they are 



PALACE AND GUARDS OF THE PACHA. 199 

then in a fair way to make an impression. We 
thought so too ; and I have seldom seen an English- 
man succeed in this, his favourite policy, more ef- 
fectually. He possessed a w^onderful tact in all that 
kind of flourish, insomuch that I w^ill be bound to say, 
he would not remain an hour in any large town in 
Europe, or any where else, without becoming the 
theme of general remark. 

We entered a large hall, crowded with armed 
guards and janizaries, who looked vicious enough 
to carry into full effect the most deadly and diaboli- 
cal commands that ever came from the polluted lips 
of tyranny in any age or country. These we found, 
as well as numerous servants, hurrying through the 
rooms, with coffee, pipes, and sherbet, which they 
were carrying into the state apartments of the palace. 
We next came into a large, well-Ughted room, with 
high walls, painted in arabesque, hung with crim- 
son curtains, fitted up with high, broad divans, and 
looking out upon the sea. This was full of well- 
dressed persons, mostly in the Turkish habit, armed, 
and conversing with great animation, as they prome- 
naded from one end of the room to the other. We 
mingled with them, and began to walk up and down 
the room too ; and Mr. Firkins opened into a bold 
and animated strain of egotism, in a sufficiently ele- 
vated key to notify all present that there were others 
in the room beside themselves — who expected and 
wished to be noticed. 

When we had ascended about half the distance 
through this great room, we came to large folding 



200 MEHEMET ALL 

doors, opening on the right into a well-furnished 
apartment, hung with crimson, and fitted up with di- 
vans, in which stood the Pacha of Egypt, his great 
officers of state, and some twenty other individuals, 
engaged in conversation. 

" There, then," said Mr. Firkins, in a hushed tone 
of voice, " there is my old friend the Pacha : ain't 
he a fine-looking old chap ?" 

" Indeed he is," said I. " And how old is he ?" 

" Why," rephed Mr, F., " he is seventy-one years 
old this winter; he was telling me his age the last 
time I had a chat with him, and said that he, and 
the Duke of Wellington, and Napoleon Bonaparte 
were born in the same year. I told him that he was 
the best and most talented man of the three." 

" Did you f asked the doctor ; " and what reply 
did his Highness make to that 1" 

" O, he told one of the servants to renew the to- 
bacco in my pipe ; called for more coffee ; and said, 
laughingly, ' That is just your way, Mr. Firkins — but 
I know my own strength, and must bring my capacity 
down to my means.' We then continued to con- 
verse about the affairs of the East, until a late hour. 
In the course of this conversation, he told me every 
thing about his future plans, and the flattering prom- 
ises of France. The fact is, the Pacha, old as he is, 
expects to sit on the throne of Turkey before he dies ; 
and no man in the East is so worthy, or could be as 
powerful there. This, however, is strictly between 
ourselves, and must be kept a profound secret ; it's 
all under the rose — but time is big with eventuali- 



THE PACHA'S PREMIER. 203 

ties — and will produce wondrous changes among 
the nations of the East." 

" Most probably," replied the doctor. " But who 
is that gentleman with whom the Pacha is now 
conversing 1" 

" That," returned Mr. Firkins, " is his secretary of 
state — a prodigiously clever man — exceedingly intel- 
ligent, and as full of diplomatic intrigue and political 
shrewdness as old Talleyrand was in his best days." 

" High commendation, that," said I, " for political 
preferment ; and has he never been any thing more 
than the Pacha's secretary of state ]" 

" Never," replied Mr. Firkins ; " but when the Pa- 
cha comes to the throne of Turkey, he will be sent 
out as ambassador to England ; and they will then 
find, at the court of St. James, that they have some- 
body among them that is as deep in the black art as 
any, even the best of her Majesty's ministers at home, 
or even Satan's favourite grandson, the English am- 
bassador at Constantinople." 

Thus Mr. Firkins went on, naming one great char- 
acter after another of those that were about the per- 
son of the Pacha, concerning all of whom he had some- 
thing to say in his extravagant style; but he pro- 
nounced them all " prodigiously clever" men in their 
way. 

The Pacha changed his position, and moved into 
a part of the room sufficiently near where we stood, 
to enable us to see the expression of his face and 
eyes, and to give us a perfect impression of his form 
and general personal appearance. 

Vol. L— 26 



202 DRESS AND ADDRESS OF THE PACHA. 

From the exaggerated accounts of the Pacha's 
character which I had seen pubUshed in the Eng- 
lish papers, and elsewhere, I expected to look upon 
a "bloodthirsty," ferocious being, more resembling 
some cruel monster than a comely and interesting 
prince. Our surprise, therefore, on seeing in the 
Pacha a fine, erect, and graceful form, with a mild, 
concihating expression of countenance, was no less 
remarkable than agreeable. 

He is a man something less than six feet in height, 
well and compactly built, yet rather slight, with an 
intelligent and well-defined cast of countenance — 
high forehead, mild, dark, and expressive, though 
penetrating eyes, and a long flowing beard, silky 
and soft as down, and as white as the drifting snow. 

He had on a red oriental cap, red Turkish shoes, 
white stockings, blue pantaloons, and the plain blue 
and laced coat worn by the officers of the Turkish 
navy. 

His movements and gestures were easy and grace- 
ful, and his manner was that of a man long accus- 
tomed to the world. 

He would be noticed, on account of his august 
appearance in any part of Christendom ; although 
few men could exhibit more apparent modesty or 
propriety of manners than pervaded the whole bear- 
ing and movements of the Pacha on that occasion. 
He appeared like a mild, intelligent, sensible, well- 
disposed man, bent upon doing good rather than 
evil in his day and generation ; and who, under other 



IMPRESSIONS OF THE PACHA. 203 

circumstances, might not be unfit to sit upon the 
most civiHzed throne in Europe. 

Our impressions of the general character of the 
Pacha were decidedly favourable, and I was glad 
that we had an opportunity of seeing him at all; 
although it appeared somewhat hke looking at a 
"lion" through bolts and bars. Yet, after the ''sud- 
den, serious illness' of our estimable friend the Dane, 
it was the only door left open through which we 
might decently look into the " lion's den." In this 
there was no impropriety, and it was a privilege, as 
we afterwards discovered, that was free to every 
body, although we at the time did not know it. 
There were no questions asked by any one when 
we went in or came out of the Pacha's palace ; and 
there was an unrestrained and steady stream of 
persons circulating through the entrance, as much 
at home, and as easy in their bearing, as country- 
people going out of and into the village tavern. 

We continued to promenade the long room, with 
a crowd of others, until the divan broke up ; when 
the Pacha went to dine on board, with the officers 
of the fleet, and many other gentlemen of distinction. 
A hundred guns sent forth their fire and smoke ; 
music filled the air; and the fallen crescent of the 
Prophet streamed from every spar. The scene was 
grand and imposing. . 



204 RETURN FROM THE PALACE. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Return from the Palace. — Mr. Firkins a Lion among the 
Rabble. — Scene in the Bazar of Alexandria. — Turkish 
and Egyptian Merchants. — Mode of Dealing. — Shopping 
in Turkey a troublesome Business. — Tricks upon Strangers. 
— Funeral Procession. 

The public business of the day being over, and 
the Pacha having gone to his dinner without inviting 
his intimate friend Mr. Firkins, w^hich w^as certainly 
a very great oversight, w^e prepared to return to the 
hotel. 

We mounted our quadrupeds, with considerable 
flourish and form on the part of Mr. Firkins and his 
fine-looking janizaries, and turned out of the grand 
court of the palace, without accident or much diffi- 
culty. We retraced our steps for some distance, 
when, at the suggestion of Mr. Firkins, and under 
his direction, we wheeled off to the right, and passed 
through a sombre and gloomy part of the town, which 
exhibited new and strange scenes in every direction. 
We witnessed a state of wretchedness among the 
people that surpasses all power of description, and 
can never be adequately sketched by the most fertile 
pencil. Mr. Firkins kindly pointed out to us every 
thing that struck him as being at all worthy of 



MR. FIRKINS PLAYS THE LION. 205 

remark; and, whenever we approached near to a 
group of the wretched beings that vegetated in that 
loathsome part of the town, he would rein up his 
donkey, call to his janizaries, in a loud and com- 
manding voice, to clear the rabble out of the street, 
and direct our attention to some object which he af- 
fected to think remarkable, whether it was really 
worth noticing or not. This naturally attracted the 
gaze of the spectators, and gave an appearance 
of commendable consistency to the character of Mr, 
Firkins. In fact, he seem.ed to feel nearly as much 
pleasure in playing the " lion" among those misera- 
ble, squalid, half-naked fellahs, miring in the mud and 
dirt of that obscure and dismal corner of Alexandria, 
as when in the grand court of the Pacha's palace, 
among the ghstening arms and gay uniforms of the 
Pacha's troops, — or even in the great room, gazing 
at the Viceroy of Egypt, and mingling with crowds 
of officers and other men who seemed to be at home 
in the presence of kings and princes. 

We wound slowly along through this dark and be- 
nighted region, and at last came out into the bazar ; 
our entrance to which was attended with a sufficient 
display of Mr. Firkins's voice, and janizary-interfe- 
rence with the crowds that were wedged into the 
little, narrow, muddy passage-ways, to bring us under 
the inquisitive gaze of all the Turkish merchants, 
who took their pipes from their mouths, and leaned 
out of their small box-kind of shops, to look at our 
blustering little cavalcade with astonishment, while 
the trembling natives, shivering half-leg deep in mud, 



206 SCENE IN THE BAZAR. 

seemed desirous to shrink into total annihilation. 
The more they attempted to recede before the pom- 
pous advances of Mr. Firkins and his relentless jani- 
zaries, the more noisy and imperious he was in his 
commands to " clear the way ! clear the rabble away ! 
clear the streets of this filth and rubbish ! let us not 
be impeded in our course ! make room for the don- 
keys !" etc. It was really frightful to witness the 
ravages and waste that these men made in their pro- 
gress through the bazar; among a set of people, 
too, who had committed no offence, but who had 
merely come there to gratify an idle curiosity — the 
same motive that had conducted us thither ; or per- 
haps to purchase a few paras worth of some kind 
of food, to keep soul and body from absolute dis- 
solution ! 

The vast multitude of suffering and degraded be- 
ings that hang on to a wretched existence in the city 
of the Ptolemies, have so long shrunk beneath the 
sway of foreign oppression — so long withered like 
an autumn leaf under the cruel hand of tyranny and 
despotism, that they no longer recognise any rights 
as existing in themselves ; — they timidly submit to 
all sorts of imposition and insult, as well from for- 
eigners and strangers in their land, as from the bar- 
barous Turks themselves, who hold them in perpetual 
bondage. 

This was a scene perfectly unique, novel, and ex- 
citing, beyond any thing that I have ever seen before 
in the way of business. The bazars of Alexandria 
are mostly skirting little narrow, muddy, unpaved 



THE BAZARS OF ALEXANDRIA. 207 

passage-ways, so small and contracted as to render it 
impossible to pass a carriage through them ; a thing, 
indeed, which is never attempted. It is not usual 
even to ride on horseback or on donkeys in the ba- 
zars ; though when we w^ere in Alexandria, it Avould 
have been quite out of the question to have passed 
dry-shod in any other manner than mounted, and 
even then, the little low animals slumped into the 
mud so much, that one's feet were not always clear 
of the mire and w^ater. 

The passages of the bazars are generally covered 
over with a flat roof of loose boards or matting, ex- 
tending from the tops of the buildings on either side. 
This covering merely affords a shade and protection 
against the piercing rays of the sun, without even an 
apology for a shelter from the drenching rain ; con- 
sequently, when the rains come, the water pours along 
these little narrow ways, which have no drainage or 
pavement, and are constantly under the poaching 
tread of a multitude of hoofs and human feet, until 
the veriest slough or mudhole in a sunken marsh or 
swamp can hardly be worse, or more difficult and 
disagreeable to pass through. Yet, bad and miry as 
they really are, they are crowded to suffocation by an 
almost infinite multitude of WTetched beings, splash- 
ing through the mud, a great part of whom appear to 
be actuated by no motive or view, other than to min- 
gle with the throng, and idle away their time in list- 
less, unmeaning conversation, and loud, vacant laugh- 
ter. Over this sink and corrupt stew of filth, dung, 
mire, and misery, the cross-legged Turks sit from 



208 



AN EGYPTIAN MERCHANT. 



day to day, and from year to year, in opposite stalls, 
so near together that they might light their pipes in 
the iire of each other's mustuheh, without raising 
themselves from the floor of their own little hox-hke 
dens of Turkish gimcracks, drugs, gewgaws, and 
scents. 




An Egyptian Merchant. 



X 

MERCHANTS OF ALEXANDRIA. 209 

These stalls or shops are formed from a kind of 
recess, opening out in its whole extent upon the 
passage-way, wdth a raised floor about three or four 
feet from the ground, upon w^liich the merchant sits, 
on a mat, with a long pipe in his hand, and transacts 
the important business of his establishment. The 
shop, or dookkan, as it is called, is seldom more capa- 
cious than a small-sized pantry, and looks about as 
elegant as a countryman's potato-bin fitted up with 
shelves. It rarely contains more goods than a man 
could carry on his back, and these are not always 
worth taking as a gift. Still, dignified as an orang- 
outang, and patient as a stagnant pool, the Turk sits 
and smokes his days away over this little mess of 
worthless trash, quite satisfied with the important 
part that he is playing in the world's mysterious dra- 
ma ; — believing sincerely in the infallibility of the 
Prophet — that they are faithfully working out the 
destiny of their existence upon earth, and that they 
are to be blessed in another world for the good they 
have done in this. There are of course exceptions 
to this picture ; and some of those rude-looking dook- 
kans contain valuable and useful articles. As a gen- 
eral thing, however, it struck me as being quite oth- 
erwise. Perhaps they have an object in appearing 
thus poor, and showing little in their shops; lest, 
were they to present a more affluent aspect, some 
plausible pretext might be devised by those in au- 
thority for disposing of the proprietor, and turning 
over his effects to the account of government. That 
may or may not be the case : at any rate, there they 

Vol. L — 27 



y 



2] SHOPPING IN TURKEY. 

sit, the turbaned merchants of Alexandria, in those 
little stived-up, confined boxes (for they can hardly 
be dignified by the name of shops), and dispose of 
their wares, write, cook, eat, drink, smoke, and he 
down and sleep ; seldom leaving these places of busi- 
ness, except to say their prayers in the mosques at 
noon or on Friday. They are often seen at their 
devotions in their dookkans. The merchant gener- 
ally sits quite in the front part of his little stall, smo- 
king, with his shoes off and feet curled up, a mat 
under him, and a large pillovv^, stuffed with cotton, 
at his back, and apparently regardless of every 
thing else. 

Ordinary customers drive a bargain with the shop- 
man standing in front of the stall ; while old, estab- 
lished " patrons of the house," or persons of better 
appearance, are invited to take a place beside the 
merchant on the mat ; and if they make purchases to 
any amount, they are treated to a pipe and a cup of 
coffee. But to "go shopping" in a Turkish town, 
with a view of purchasing any thing, is generally a 
higgling, arduous, disagreeable business. 

The merchant usually asks full twice the sum that 
he is very willing, in the end, to take ; nor is he to be 
brought down from this exorbitant position at once. 
Consequently, the lower classes, in their little mer- 
cantile transactions, wage a war of words, and ap- 
pear to be just on the verge of appeahng to bloody 
noses to enforce their arguments. 

Those who prefer to manage their business trans- 
actions in a more quiet way, sit down deliberately, 



DILATORY BARGAINING. 21] 

smoking one pipe-full after another, sipping their 
coifee, conversing about the news of the day, and 
matters and things in general, occasionally touching 
upon the real object of their visit, but always with 
that apparent indifference and carelessness which in- 
dicate that their offer, though not at first equal to 
a third of the price demanded, is their ultimatum. 
The Turkish merchant, no less wary, and used to 
the business and tricks of his profession, exhibits 
great tact, shrewdness, and caution in his advances. 
As one party gives way, the other yields a little, un- 
til at last, after much useless conversation, much 
smoking, and considerable waste of time and pa- 
tience, besides some wear and tear of conscience, — 
the parties clinch the bargain. 

This deliberate mode of transacting business with 
the people of the East, who appear to have so much 
time upon their hands that it is valueless, may an- 
swer very well indeed for mere pastime or amuse- 
ment. But to a Yankee, who would wish to travel 
through the world like a rocket, arid live two or 
three lives in one, it certainly is not without its in- 
convenience and annoyance. 

As a general thing, the servant of the customer 
expects and receives a trifling present from the shop- 
keeper ; and if it is not voluntarily handed over, he 
knows the value of his situation and the custom of 
the East too well to have any scruples about de- 
manding it. Whereas a stranger, unacquainted with 
the language of the country, makes his appearance 
accompanied by a professed interpreter. Most com- 



212 TRICKS UPON STRANGERS. 

monly the first conversation that takes place is — "I 
have brought you a customer," says the interpreter, 
" and I must have a per centage upon all he pur- 
chases: and you must set your prices with that 
understanding." 

The preliminaries being settled, they proceed to 
fleece the duck between them, and divide the fea- 
thers at a more convenient season. To give the af- 
fair more the appearance of close bargaining on both 
sides, and general satisfaction to the customer, and 
above all to convince him beyond a doubt that he 
has a faithful and an honest friend in the person of 
the interpreter, the merchant and the dragoman get 
into a quarrel. The dragoman threatens to leave 
him if he does not come down in his prices, and de- 
clares that he will never come near his shop again. 
That elevated tone usually produces a trifling abate- 
ment, whereupon a bargain is concluded, more to the 
advantage of the two wolves than the lamb. 

Few words only are really necessary in making 
bargains. The merchant knows at once how much 
he intends to receive for whatever he has to sell. 
Therefore the customer, if he knows the money of 
Egypt, and the name of the article that he seeks, 
will get along much more expeditiously alone than 
with an interpreter. Besides, he will make a con- 
siderable saving in dragoman-fees and the per centage 
which he almost invariably demands on the amount 
of the purchase. 

This is not all. The stranger will have the satis- 
faction to know, that although he may have been 



BAZAR OF ALEXANDRIA. 213 

slightly taken in by the tradesman, it is a single shave, 
and he has not been fleeced by his servant. 

When a traveller undertakes the disagreeable and 
difficult business of shopping in a Turkish town, un- 
accompanied by an interpreter, the shopman natu- 
rally concludes that he knows something of the prices 
of the articles which he wishes to purchase ; besides, 
they suppose him sufficiently acquainted with the 
ways and manners of the country, to detect gross 
imposition ; consequently they will be less likely to 
make a martyr of him, than when found under the 
protection of a swindler, in the garb of an avowed 
faithful companion, wlio knows the language and cus- 
toms of the Egyptians, and is determined to avail 
himself of all their advantages. 

In Constantinople, Cairo, Smyrna, Jerusalem, and 
most other Turkish towns of any importance that I 
have visited, the diflerent commodities of the mer- 
chants are severally confined to certain sections of the 
bazar, or certain streets, which are frequently known 
by the name of the articles exposed there for sale. 
But in the bazar of Alexandria, there were tinkers, 
blacksmiths, watch-makers, jewellers, turners, tinmen, 
tailors, shoemakers, pipe-sellers, oilmen, hosiers, cap- 
sellers, gunsmiths, bankers, confectioners, money- 
changers, barbers, head-dressers, cooks, and fish- 
mongers, all within speaking distance of each other, 
jumbled and mixed up together, with the most mot- 
ley, disgusting rabble of half-clad wretches, splash- 
ing along through the mud, mumbling and mutter- 



2.14 FUNERAL PROCESSION. 

ing the most confused and hideously-sounding jar- 
gon imaginable. 

As if to heighten and render this picture still more 
impressive and awful, the dead body of a person on 
the way to the grave was brought along just at the 
time that we were urging our difficult passage through 
the dense crowed, making confusion more confused, 
and adding terror to a scene already terrific. 

The funeral procession was led by some ten or 
twelve old blind or nearly blind men, clothed in rags, 
chanting in a melancholy strain the song or service 
usual on these occasions. It was w^ith the greatest 
difficulty that they struggled slowly along through the 
mud and jostling crowd. They were followed by 
some eight or ten other men, bearing a flag. Next 
came some small boys, chanting at the top of their 
half-formed voices ; then followed the corpse, resting 
on a bier, and borne upon the shoulders of three rag- 
ged men, who were succeeded by a crowd of wail- 
ing women, enveloped in mourning robes such as are 
worn on these occasions, and all screeching fearfully, 
and wailing the death of the departed with tears and 
gestures more indicative of madness and phrensy 
than any deep-rooted sorrow or poignant grief. 
These were pressed forward by twenty or thirty more 
ill-visaged and evil-looking wights ; while to them 
succeeded the giddy and noisy throng of half-naked 
women, maimed men, water-carriers, fruit-sellers, 
soap-boilers, rat-catchers, snake-eaters, jugglers, dan- 
cers, " rag, tag, and bobtail." 

It was indeed one of the most " extraordinary spec- 



FUNERAL PROCESSION. 



215 




tacles" that I have ever writnessed. The passage-way 
was so narrow, so muddy, and so completely choked 
up with the Uving, that it seemed to me to be the 



216 FUNERAL PROCESSION. 

most ill-chosen route in the world for the passage of 
the dead ; though it presented all the misery and the 
doleful noises that the most fruitful irnao-ination can 

o 

well picture as pertaining to the abode of unhappy 
spirits in another world. 

The old blind men and the bearers of the corpse 
had a difficult task to perform : those, in opening the 
way for the funeral procession ; and these, in keeping 
the body upon their shoulders. Sometimes the crush- 
ing of the unfeeling and heedless rabble against the 
bearers would nearly pitch them down, and then 
there was such a reeling and sliding of the body on 
the bier, that I expected every moment to see it tum- 
ble into the mud with the bearers, grave-clothes, 
and all. But the bearers managed to keep them- 
selves on their feet, and the dead body on their shoul- 
ders ; and went on chanting in that impressive man- 
ner, until they turned a corner in the bazar, and 
disappeared. 

All this time, Mr. Firkins, having skilfully backed 
our cavalcade into a little enlargement or elbow of 
the passage-way, under the greasy stall of a cook, 
and placed the two formidable and picturesque-look- 
ing janizaries as a sort of body-guard in front, we 
were enabled to witness the progress of the funeral 
procession, through the bazar, in comparative se- 
curity. 

It was now late in the afternoon. The principal 
business of the day was over; and most of those 
turbaned sons of Mammon and the Prophet had 
eaten their rice and kihab, or whatever else they had 



AFTERNOON HABITS. 217 

for dinner, and were fuming away at their long amber 
mouth-piece pipes, with most stoical indifference to 
the strange scenes around them, and to all the rest 
of the world. Some few, however, were still at their 
frugal meal, which had been brought to them from 
the neighbouring cook-shop, and were eating with 
their fingers, out of little rude brown earthen pots or 
pans, with all the gravity of an owl resting upon a 
dry limb. Others of these singular men of business, 
and cadaverous-looking Mussulmen, had eaten their 
diiiner, taken their opium, and smoked themselves 
into a delightful sleep. They lay slumbering upon 
their little dirty, flea-haunted divans, fly-blown — 
bidding adieu to all the cares of the world, and de- 
fiance to the Babel-like bedlam and confusion of the 
bazar; and indeed to the thundering guns of the 
Turkish and Egyptian fleets, which were then roar- 
ing away most gloriously in the harbour. Business 
of the day with them was finished ; nor could the 
gold of Ophir or the wealth of Croesus tempt them 
from their delicious and sweet repose. 

Indeed, the merchants who were thus drowned in 
all the delights and pleasing dreams of forgetfulness, 
stretched out at full length in front of their stalls, 
like dead hogs for sale in a butcher's shop, manifested 
scarcely more indiflerence to the higgling throng, or 
less desire apparently to drive a bargain with any of 
the passing crowd, than did those dozing, half-stu- 
pified, vegetable-looking shopmen, who still kept 
their eyes open, and exhibited other symptoms of 
animal existence. These looked out — when they 

Vol. 1—28 



218 



TRICKS OF TRADERS. 



deigned to look at all upon the motley crowd of 
squalid wretches who wedged and blocked up the 
passage — with perfect unconcern ; quite indifferent, 
apparently, whether they ever sold a paras worth of 
their merchandise or not. 

This, however, was not the aspect of mercantile 
affairs in some other sections of the bazar, and more 
particularly in somje of the side streets, where might 
be seen Italians, Frenchmen, Armenians, Englishmen, 
Greeks, and Jews, pushing a bargain with their cus- 
tomers with all the shrewdness, determination, and 
eagerness of a Yankee pedler. Customers, once in 
their hands, did not escape purchasing something, 
and at a price that left a liberal return to the mer- 
chant for his trouble and the outlay of his capital. 
They will not fail to represent their wares to their 
customers as possessing all the qualities that fair 
words and glowing promises, backed with oaths, can 
give them. If a customer will not purchase of them 
what he does or does not want, it is no fault of theirs. 
If importunity and annoying solicitation can avail, 
the idler will not pass through the hands of this class 
of merchants without bearing off some memorial of 
their skill and insidious arts. 




Tricks of Trade. 



MODERN AND ANCIENT ALEXANDRIA. 219 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Modem and Ancient Alexandria, — Comprehensive Views of 
its Founder, — Well-chosen Site for a Great Commercial 
City, — Canal, connecting the JVile with the Mediterranean, 

— Reservoirs of Alexandria, — Privileges enjoyed hy the 
Greeks in Egypt under the JVative Kings. — Cordial Re- 
ception of Alexander and his Army by the Egyptians, — 
Wise and Conciliatory Administration of the early Ptole- 
mies, — Extent and Splendour of Ancient Alexandria, — 
Its Capture by the Saracens, — Wise and Humane Policy 
of Amrou, the Arab Conqueror, — His Account of the 
Conquest, — Policy of Mehemet AH and the Black League, 

— Tomb of Alexander, 

Alexandria is favourably situated for commerce ; 
and, in consequence of the difficulty experienced in 
entering the mouths of tjie Nile with vessels draw- 
ing any considerable depth of water (owing to the 
obstruction formed by the double action of the sea 
and river), it is the most desirable port of entry in 
all Egypt. Nearly the whole foreign trade of the 
country passes through the hands of the resident 
merchants in that city. 

Under the Greeks and Romans, when the trade of 
Arabia and India, or a greater part of it, came through 
Egypt, Alexandria was the greatest commercial em- 



220 COMPREHENSIVE VIEWS OF ALEXANDER. 

porium in the Levant, or, perhaps, in the known 
world. Its origin and subsequent richness and splen- 
dour, standing as it did upon the barren rocks of the 
Libyan desert, were not entirely the result of the 
caprice and arbitrary will of a powerful prince, the 
conqueror of the world, — like, for instance, the 
founding of the capital of Prussia, Bavaria, and some 
other European cities, exhibiting more the prodi- 
gality of a vain monarch, than any natural growth, 
real commercial strength, or prosperity in the cities 
themselves; — but of a well and judiciously-chosen 
site ; such as could hardly have escaped the compre- 
hensive mind and sound judgment of Alexander; 
wfio, after subjecting a distant country to his author- 
ity, and making it his own, sought not to pillage and 
destroy, but rather to embelHsh and enrich it, from 
its own legitimate and natural resources. 

Long previously to the conquest of the country by 
Alexander, there had been a canal, uniting the wa- 
ters of the Red Sea with those of the Mediterranean ; 
and, doubtless, almost the first thing that struck the 
penetrating mind of that wonderful man, on deciding 
to erect a city upon a site so desolate and barren as 
that of Alexandria, was a canal to connect the river 
of Egypt with the Mediterranean Sea. 

A canal was necessarily the first thing to be con- 
structed, since all the material for building the city 
must have been brought from Egypt ; for, properly 
speaking, at that time the site of Alexandria could 
hardly have been said to belong to Egypt. It was 
a part of the desert ; and even at this time, I know 



RESERVOIRS OF ALEXANDRIA. 221 

of no part of the Libyan or Arabian deserts that ap- 
pears more barren or desolate than the country just 
without the walls of Alexandria. There is no 
depth of soil, nor the least sign of vegetation, ex- 
cept where art has done what nature has omitted 
to do. Not even is fresh water to be obtained, but 
from the Nile. 

The houses of the ancient city were mostly erect- 
ed upon a sub-structure of arched vaults or reservoirs, 
into which the water of the Nile was conducted by 
the canal. In these capacious reservoirs, it freed 
itself from the sediment and vegetable matter with 
which it was highly charged, and was then fit for use» 
Some of these reservoirs are still well preserved, and 
are used by the citizens of Alexandria at the present 
day ; though the greater part of them have long since 
disappeared, and are now buried beneath the crumb- 
ling ruins of the ancient city. 

When Norden, the Danish traveller, visited Alex- 
andria, about a hundred years ago, most of the reser- 
voirs were perfect, and were used by the citizens ; 
but the canal had ceased to be a medium of commu- 
nication between the Nile and the Mediterranean for 
commercial purposes, and only served, during the 
inundation, to conduct a supply of fresh water from 
the river to the city. The sand had so filled in and 
choked up the canal, that it was then no longer used 
even for the smallest class of passage-boats. 

On the accession of Mehemet AU to the govern- 
ment of Egypt, all in ces of the ancient canal had 
nearly disappeared. 



222 PRIVILEGES OF THE GREEKS IN EGYPT. 

The penetrating mind of the present ruler of 
Egypt, in this respect not unUke the more remarka- 
ble genius of the Macedonian warrior, perceived the 
advantages to be derived from again opening the 
communication by water between the Nile and the 
sea. He summoned his subjects to the work of dig- 
ging the canal, in such numbers, that it is said to 
have been navigable for passage and freight boats 
throughout its whole extent, in six weeks from the 
time of its commencement. 

Under the reign of Amasis, the last but one of 
the native Egyptian kings, who died but a few 
months previously to the Persian invasion under 
Cambyses, the Greeks in that country had enjoyed 
great commercial advantages ; and " such Greeks as 
wished to maintain a regular communication with 
Egypt, he permitted to have a settlement at Naucra- 
tis^ . . . which soon became a flourishing town under 
the exclusive privileges it enjoyed ; and being the 
sole emporium of the Greeks in Egypt, not only 
was every man required to unload his cargo there, 
but if he came to any other than the Coptic mouth 
of the Nile, he was obliged to swear it was entirely 
accidental, and was compelled to go thither in the 
same vessel ; or, if contrary winds prevented his 
making that passage, his goods were taken out and 
conveyed in boats of the country, by inland naviga- 
tion, through or round the Delta to Naucratis." 

The Greeks were otherwise greatly favoured, and 
had distinguished privileges in Egypt. They were 

♦ Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. i., pp. 182, 183. 



FRIENDSHIP OF THE GREEKS AND EGYPTIANS. 223 

allowed to erect temples, and enjoy the worship 
of then* gods in the land of Egypt, after the manner 
of their own country. Many of their most distin- 
guished scholars had been accustomed to visit the 
vale of the Nile for the purpose of study and for other 
objects of improvement, and had frequently met with 
the greatest courtesy and attention from the ancient 
priests and " the wise men" of Egypt. They had 
often been in alliance too with the Greeks ; and had 
fought in the same battles, and under the same ban- 
ners, against the common enemy. 

A friendship naturally sprung up between the two 
nations, through an intercourse so cordial, and with- 
out doubt mutually advantageous, which, happily, 
was not wholly extinguished under the oppressive 
and cruel reign of the Persian dynasties. Conse- 
quently, the Egyptians hailed the Macedonian vet- 
erans and their leader as friends and deliverers, on 
their arrival in their country, rather than as invaders 
and conquerors. 

The Egyptians cursed and hated the Persians, 
who had overrun their country, taken down their 
temples, destroyed their monuments, and violated 
their gods ; but at the same time they respected the 
Greeks, and gloried in the genius and bravery that 
had made them the rulers of their kingdom. 

"So conciliatory was the conduct of the early 
Ptolemies, that the Egyptians almost ceased to re- 
gret the period when they were governed by their 
native princes."* 

• Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 214. 



224 SPLENDOUR OF ANCIENT ALEXANDRIA. 

One of the first benefits conferred by the conquer- 
or upon the rich and newly-acquired country, was 
the founding of the celebrated city of Alexandria ; 
which in time rose to be the second city of the 
Roman empire. The extensive commerce of Arabia 
and India naturally centred there, and the design of 
founding the city was scarcely formed and carried 
into effect, when it assumed an importance in the 
commercial world worthy its noble founder, and its 
well-chosen position. It was laid out with exceed- 
ing elegance and taste, and comprehended a circum- 
ference of fifteen R.oman miles. It was adorned 
with temples, palaces, baths, and four hundred thea- 
tres, or places of public amusement ; and contained a 
population of three hundred thousand free citizens, 
and nearly an equal number of slaves. It was the 
seat of commerce and learning, of luxury and the 
arts ; and after suffering a variety of fortune under 
the too fickle, and at last hateful administration of 
the Greeks, and the subsequent powerful rule of the 
Romans, — it ultimately fell a rich spoil into the 
hands of the Arab conqueror, embellished with all 
the splendour of art, and enriched with the commerce 
of a thousand years. 

It was, however, far from being an easy conquest ; 
and the Saracens did not make themselves masters 
of this commercial emporium until after a siege of 
fourteen months, and a loss of twenty-three thousand 
soldiers, who fell before its walls. 

Amrou, the Arabian conqueror, entering the gates 
of the city, hung out the banners of the Prophet, and 



ITS CAPTURE BY THE SARACENS. 225 

the standard of the Saracens waved victorious from 
its lofty battlements. The Greeks mostly made their 
escape in their vessels, and left Amrou in undisputed 
possession of the rich spoil. But, unUke the dis- 
graceful and savage slaughter, violation, and pillage 
that have marked the bloody footsteps of many of 
the victorious generals under the banners of Moham- 
med since that period, he suffered not the slightest 
insult or injury to be offered to the citizens. He 
took an account of the inhabitants, imposed a tri- 
bute — left the citizens not only in quiet possession 
of their homes, but protected them against the law- 
less inclinations of his soldiery, and the schismatic 
feuds then existing in the bosom of the community. 
He commanded his generals to preserve the wealth 
of Alexandria and its revenues for the extension of 
the faith and the benefit of the public service. 

In the account given of this important event to 
the Calif, Amrou said : " I have taken the great city 
of the West. It is impossible for me to enumerate 
the variety of its riches and beauty ; and I shall con- 
tent myself with observing, that it contains four 
thousand palaces, four thousand baths, four hundred 
theatres or places of amusement, twelve thousand 
shops for the sale of vegetable food, and forty thou- 
sand tributary Jews. The town has been subdued 
by force of arms, without treaty or capitulation ; and 
the Moslems are impatient to seize the fruits of their 
victory."* 

Such, then, in part, was the picture of Alexandria, 

* Gibbon's "Decline and Fall," London edition, 4to, p. 911. 

Vol. L — 29 



226 RUINS OF ALEXANDRIA. 

drawn by the commander of the faithful, twelve hun- 
dred years ago — Alexandria, which, with the excep- 
tion of the two obelisks of Cleopatra, and Pompey's 
Pillar, presents little else, at the present day, besides 
a shapeless mass of mouldering ruins. For miles in 
all directions over the site of the ancient city, a 
wavy surface of drifting sand rests upon the crushed 
fragments of its departed glory, in all the silent deso- 
lation of the desert and the grave. The once gay 
and brilliant city, where emperors, kings, queens, and 
warriors held their courts in all the splendour and 
eclat common to ancient eastern princes, is now only 
visited by the curious stranger, who silently muses 
over its wreck, and by the labourer, who seeks 
among its crumbled remains materials for new erec- 
tions. It has been for many long centuries a mere 
quarry, whence brick and stone have been drawn 
to all parts of the Delta, and converted into new 
buildings. 

The modern town of Alexandria has been wholly 
built from the rubbish of the ancient city. Many of 
the finest columns and other works of art that once 
adorned it, have been carried to Constantinople, 
Rome, and other parts of Europe. 

The ancient town is still resorted to for the pur- 
pose of extracting materials for modern buildings. 
The old brick are well preserved, and better than 
new; and the limestone columns, architraves, and 
walls are easily converted into lime, and are used in 
the construction ot new edifices. Its site was much 
more healthy and picturesque than that of the new 



LIBERAL POLICY OF MEHEMET ALL 227 

town, being upon the declivity of the Libyan moun- 
tains, from which the water and fihh were easily 
conducted off into the sea. 

The modern city of Alexandria stands upon the 
edge of the water, and in a sort of basin, as it were, 
w^here the water that runs down during the rainy 
season from the ruins of the old town, and the abomi- 
nable filth of the wretched population of the new, 
all concentrate, and foment into a thousand ills and 
annoyances — resulting in fevers, plague, and all their 
devastation and terrors. 

Notwithstanding all these disadvantages, and its 
exceedingly insalubrious situation, the present city of 
Alexandria is gradually improving, and increasing in 
trade. New buildings are frequently erected : and 
when we were there, one or two large mansions 
were in a rapid course of completion, at the head of 
the European Square. Nearly all the buildings upon 
that square are of large dimensions, and in the Eu- 
ropean style of architecture. The foreign consuls 
are all located in that part of the town ; and the 
standards of their respective countries wave from the 
tops of their dwellings. 

The liberal and enlightened policy of Mehemet 
Ali toward foreigners, has been the means of greatly 
increasing the trade and commerce of the city, and 
of introducing into it many modern improvements; 
and if this noble policy were seconded by a cor- 
responding spirit of intelligence, liberality, and good 
sense on the part of those who claim the honour 
to reign by " divine right" over the civilized nations 



228 TOMB OF ALEXANDER. 

of Europe, instead of that narrow-minded, self- 
ish policy which seems to have been the control- 
ling principle of the black league in their officious 
and unjustifiable interference in his affairs, the proba- 
bility is that the enterprising and spirited Pacha of 
Egypt, though now advanced to a green old age, 
would be enabled to sow the seeds, which, in the 
course of time, under a wise administration of east- 
ern affairs, would ripen into permanent benefits, and 
a regeneration of the beclouded and oppressed na- 
tions of the Levant. 

The tomb of the Macedonian conqueror and 
founder of the once opulent and splendid city of 
Alexandria, is no longer to be found. It is said that 
his remains were put into a glass coffin, and buried in 
the ancient city ; but all traces of his dust, or the spot 
where he was laid, have been lost. Not even the 
doubtful glimmerings of tradition, shadowed forth by 
the guides, exist. All are ahke silent upon the sub- 
ject ; and, like the second city of the world in the 
splendour of its zenith, now mouldering beneath the 
sands of the desert, little else than a name remains 
of the conqueror or his works. How forcibly does 
this circumstance remind us of the passage in the 
writings of the immortal bard ! — 

^^ Hamlet. — To what base uses we may return, Horatio ! Why may 
not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander till he find it stopping 
a bung-hole ? 

'* Horatio. — 'Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so. 

^^ Hamlet. — No, 'faith not a jot ; but to follow him thither with mod- 
esty enough, and likelihood to lead us : As thus : Alexander died, 
Alexander was buried, Alexander return eth to dust; the dust is earth ; 
of earth we make loam : And why not of that loam, whereto he was 
converted, might they not stop a beer-barrel ? 



REGRET AT LEAVING ALEXANDRIA. 229 

" Imperious Csesar, dead, and turned to clay, 
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away : 
0, that the earth, which kept the world in awe. 
Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw !" 

Alexandria has been the theatre of great and im- 
portant events : once the emporium of commerce, of 
learning, of luxm'j, and art ; the scene too of some 
events important to religion. It is therefore inter- 
esting and instructive to linger among its ruins, and 
there contemplate the destiny of the fairest creations 
of the human mind, and the fate of the world. For 
that, too, and all that exist within it, shall succumb 
at last, and give way to the relentless impress of 
time, and finally sink into oblivion before the oblit- 
erating influence of ages — like the atom that per- 
ishes in the midst of the ocean ! The time had ar- 
rived when w^e were to bid adieu to all the charms, 
to all the wretchedness, to all the desolateness and 
misery of Alexandria, and seek new objects of inter- 
est and contemplation in the more venerable parts 
of Egypt. This, however, was not without feelings 
of regret ; for never in our lives had we passed time 
under more agreeable excitation. Every object with 
which we were surrounded seemed to remind us that 
we were in a new world, even though treading among 
the ruins of the old. Books may be read at a dis- 
tance, but they can impart, at most, only a faint idea 
of the reality and impressiveness of the scenes of an 
eastern city. 

The curious groups of citizens, with long frocks, 
ample turbans, hideous masks, and dresses of every 
variety of colour ; the strange guttural sounds of the 



230 SCENES IN ALEXANDRIA.. 

language, the long beards, the long pipes, the camels, 
the dogs, and donkeys, the odd mixture of all na- 
tions, that were crushed and mingled together in the 
city of Alexandria, made up one of the most extra- 
ordinary pictures that I have ever seen. Sometimes 
we could scarcely realize that we were witnessing 
scenes of real life ; and that the strange picture of 
our contemplation was not, in fact, the restless and 
imperfect fabric of a vision ! 



PREPARATIONS TO DEPART. 233 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Preparations to depart. — Exchange of Adieus, — Affecting 

Scene. Weeping and Laughter. Heavy JVews. — 

Change of Circumstances and Dress. — Quizzing-glasses 
and Financial Prospects. — ^' Hot Mixture,'" and Hunt for 
the Door-latch. 

Having completed all the necessary arrangements 
for the commencement of om* excursion up the Nile ; 
and having, two days before, taken leave of our friend 
the Dane, then vice-consul of the United States in 
Alexandria, there were no other persons with whom 
to exchange adieus, except Mrs. Firkins, Mr. O'Stat- 
ten, and Mr. O'Screensbury. 

Mr. Sneezebiter had gone off in a hurry, a day or 
two previously, on hearing that a gentleman of Ro- 
setta had found a curious snake in the Delta, which 
he offered for sale, together with a very clever scor- 
pion, said to have been brought with great care all 
the way from the tombs of Petra by an Englishman ; 
who, on his arrival at Rosetta, finding himself rather 
short of funds, was reluctantly compelled to part with 
it much below its real value. Mr. Sneezebiter had 
pushed off to that city, upon the receipt of a letter, 
bearing that important intelligence, in hopes to close 
a bargain for the two reptiles on advantageous terms, 



232 



AN AFFECTING SCENE. 



and add them both to his akeady attractive, and, as 
his EngUsh friends said, " very clever collection." 

Mr. Firkins had also set out on the evening before, 
up the Nile, and had gone to accompany the Wrin- 
klebottoms as far as Cairo. 

The French steamer had just left for Athens and 
Malta, carrying off our American friend of Boston, 
and a number of English travellers from India, whose 
faces had begun to look familiar, as we saw them 
daily dodging about for the sights of the city ; and 
the town itself was, just for the time, getting quite 
dull. 

Our turn had at last arrived, and we w^ent over to 
take leave of Mrs. Firkins and Mr. O'Statten ; but 
we found it rather an affecting incident. I could not 
have believed it possible that an accidental acquaint- 
ance of such a brief existence could make such a 
deep impression as we had apparently imprinted 
upon the tender feelings of Mrs. Firkins. We found 
her " like Niobe, all tears." She appeared to be all 
emotion of the tenderest kind. She said it was al- 
ways thus ; situated in that distant, barbarous part of 
the world, she was only doomed to form new ac- 
quaintances, with ladies and gentlemen of civilized 
countries, which, when warmed into something like 
a little cordiality and friendship, were always sud- 
denly broken off — never to be renewed again on 
this side of the grave ! She fairly sobbed aloud, and 
kissed my wife over and over again ; and looked so 
exceedingly sad and amiable in her ringlets and tears, 
that I was almost tempted to kiss her myself, for very 



SKEPTICISM OF THE DOCTOR. 233 

sympathy. It was really a touching scene. She 
made us very melancholy, so that I was on the point 
of giving her a solemn promise that we would cer- 
tainly come back to her again, and go to Palestine 
from Alexandria by water. She was so depressed 
in spirits, so overwhelmed with grief, and so afflicted 
every way, that I thought the least we could do, 
would be to put off our departure for a day or two ; 
at the expiration of which time I w^as in hopes she 
would get calmer, and be more reconciled to the 
separation. 

Upon taking the doctor a little one side, and 
broaching the matter to him, he would not hear a 
word upon the subject. He said " It was all sheer 
affectation — a scene got up for the occasion ; and 
altogether the most complete bit of cozening that 
he had seen among all the cozeners of Alexandria." 

" Do you really think so V* said I to the doctor. 

" Think so V said he, " I'm satisfied of it. — See 
Mr. O'Statten. He can scarcely restrain himself from 
applauding her aloud, she acts her part of the farce 
so well." 

" My attention has been so completely absorbed," 
said I, " by the apparent grief and distress of Mrs. 
Firkins, that I have not bestowed the least attention 
upon Mr. O'Statten or the part that he is perform- 
ing. You must acknowledge, however," said I to 
the doctor, " that Mrs. Firkins feels very bad about 
our departure from Alexandria 1" 

" Not a bit of it," said the doctor, " it's all an imposi- 
tion, — the veriest chicanery in the world. Come," 

Vol. L — 30 



234 AFFECTING SEPARATION. 

said lie, " let us act a little more like sensible people, and 
bid them adieu, sans ceremonie, . ' For the wind sits 
in the shoulder of our sail, and we are staid for.' " 

"I must confess," said I to the doctor, in reply to the 
summary mode he proposed for cutting short Mrs. Fir- 
kins's grief, " that I cannot bring my mind to believe 
that such apparently deep emotion is all fudge. How- 
ever, I know that the human heart is deceitful above 
all things, and desperately wicked ; and that truth is 
said to lie ' at the bottom of a w^elL' You may be 
right after all, doctor, and as the arrangements are 
all made for our departure, perhaps it will be as 
well not to give way too much to feeling ; but set 
out on our journey, and let things at Alexandria 
take their course." 

"Certainly," said he, "that will be far better; 
and I propose that we go to our hotel directly." 
So, after another round of kisses and affectionate 
squeezing of hands, all the way from the drawing- 
room down two pair of stairs, across the court quite 
to the gate of the how-wab, we tore ourselves away 
from the tender embraces of Mrs. Firkins, and left 
her apparently in a deplorable state of affliction. 

Mr. O'Statten, who had evinced httle more than 
the ordinary feelings of civility usual on similar occa- 
sions, until we got into the street, was now moved 
by a sudden impulse; and, on the instant, became 
nearly as much affected as Mrs. Firkins herself. 

Mrs. C. was really down-hearted upon the occa- 
sion; and I felt subdued and melancholy. 



TEARS AND LAUGHTER. 235 

We walked along for some distance, and none of 
us uttered a word. 

Mrs. Firkins and Mr. O'Statten lingered at the 
gate, and followed us with their brimful eyes until 
we turned the corner of the street, then waved an 
adieu with their hands and handkerchiefs ; and, as I 
imagined, turned toward the door of their house — 

" With visage sad, and footsteps slow, 
Like parting friends who linger as they go- 

This was too much for the nerves of Mrs. C, and 
the risible faculties of the doctor — the one burst 
into a flood of tears — the other into a roar of merri- 
ment. For my own part, I scarcely knew what to 
make of it; but I could not bid those good people 
farewell for ever, without one longing, lingering look ; 
so I retraced my steps, and turned my eyes in the 
direction of the hospitable mansion that we had just 
quitted; when, what was my astonishment to see 
Mrs. Firkins and Mr. O'Statten standing on the 
very spot where we had left them, almost dying with 
— laughter ! 

When we came into the hotel, we had the pleas- 
ure of meeting Mr. O'Screensbury. He had already 
been waiting our return more than an hour; and had 
come to say good-by. He had heard heavy news 
from England, and put on a kind of dignified 
sadness. He had just received the melancholy in- 
telligence of the death of his father, by which afflic- 
tive event he had lost an affectionate parent, with 
whom he had not spoken a friendly word for six 



236 



HEAVY NEWS. 



years ; and, what made this heavy affliction the more 
poignant was, he was left to hefrthe title of his father 
and all the family estates. Neither the title nor the 
estates could have been very unacceptable to him, 
especially the latter, one would naturally have sup- 
posed ; for, like his friend Mr. Sneezebiter, with 
whom he passed a considerable part of his time, he 
had not always conducted himself with that pru- 
dence and sobriety requisite to gain a parent's confi- 
dence and love ; and consequently had not always 
received such prompt and ample remittances from 
home as to place his pecuniary affairs beyond the 
reach of embarrassment. His funds had been in 
a more precarious condition during the last five 
or six months previous to the death of his lament- 
ed parent, than at any time anterior thereto since 
his arrival in Egypt; and had it not been for the 
important assistance which he had received from his 
intimate friend and companion, Mr. Sneezebiter, he 
would have been left almost or quite penniless. 

Mr. O'Screensbury had mounted a large black weed 
upon his hat, laid aside his white plush breeches 
and blue stock, left off his gold chains and gilded 
eye-glass, and put on the habiliments of mourning 
throughout — exhibiting no ornament whatever, with 
the exception of a little small iron-mounted quizzing- 
glass, hanging down upon his breast by a little black 
India rubber cord, which passed round his neck, of so 
small a size as to be scarcely discernible. 

It was very seldom that I saw Englishmen abroad 
without the appendage of a quizzing-glass attached 



QUIZZING-GLASSES. 237 

to their necks, although their eyes are proverbially 
good. 

" Those eyes, though their vision surpasses 
The eagle's that pierces the light, 
Must be aided by black quizzing-glasses, 
Howe'er they embarrass the sight." 

When we meet six or eight English gentlemen to- 
gether, the manner in which they bring their eye- 
glasses to bear upon each other, and almost every 
other object around them, is " very peculiar," and re- 
minds one of Napoleon's scientific corps, who fol- 
lowed the fortunes of that great captain in their 
researches and discoveries in Egypt, with their tele- 
scopes in hand, rather than ordinary men in their 
senses, with eyes in their heads. 

It is impossible for them to recognise their old ac- 
quaintances at the distance of a dozen feet, without 
the aid of their eye-glasses ; and then the cordiality 
and nonchalance with which they come together 
upon ultimately finding one another out, is truly 
laughable. Dropping their glasses simultaneously, 
they seize each other's hands with the abruptness 
and vigor of two Greek or Roman wrestlers ; shaking 
at the same time hard enough to dislocate the arm. 
"Ah, God bless you !" says one of them, " how are 
ye 1 how are ye ? How have you been since the 
shooting season was over V At the same time, and 
without heeding in the least the affectionate inquiries 
of his friend, the other, still keeping up the violent 
and almost convulsing shake, roars out at the top of 
his voice, " How ai*e ye \ how are ye ? Where the 
d — 1 have you kept yourself since we had that set- 



238 QUIZZING-GLASSES. 

down at the races ? I'll be d d if I've had such 

a clever rubber from that day to this." 

I have actually seen English travellers standing 
before a cathedral in Italy, studying and gazing at 
the bare walls of one of its broad sides through the 
medium of their quizzing-glasses, with as much ap- 
parent intensity as is required to see to advantage the 
celebrated " working-fleas" through a microscope. 
They seem to be as fond of their eye-glasses as the 
Italian monks are of sandals and snufF, although it is 
notorious that they can see remarkably well without, 
and scarcely at all with them. When their glasses 
are gold-mounted, and swinging about like clock-pen- 
dulums upon their breasts, they have quite a pleasing, 
janty air, and Contrast very agreeably with the large, 
full-blown roses or daffodils which they fail not to 
stick into the button-hole of their coats whenever 
they can get them, and at all seasons of the year. 

Mr. O'Screensbury was exceedingly partial to his 
glass, and had used it in various ways for so long a 
time, that the youthful lustre of his eye was already 
considerably dimmed by it ; and it was supposed by 
his friends that his grief for the death of his lamented 
father would not meliorate its flushed and watery 
condition. 

For a long time, he had found it necessary to dilute 
the Nile-water with alcohol, otherwise it was quite 
impossible for him to drink it ; and, as it was, even 
with that precaution, its effects upon him were quite 
visible. 

He was now much cast down and depressed in 



MR. O'SCREENSBURY. 239 

spirits, and it would be imprudent, of course, to 
drink the water of the Nile without a more liberal 
dilution than ever. Besides, he found it necessary 
to indulge his rather ample propensity for the dis- 
tilled liquids of Europe just at this juncture, in or- 
der to keep him from sinking under the w^eight of his 
recent heavy bereavement. 

As he would soon get possession of the O'Screens- 
bury property, he would be quite able to discharge 
all his obligations to his friend Mr. Sneezebiter, as 
well as to defray any little extras, on account of 
wine, women, and vipers, that might be necessary to 
rally his depressed spirits, now in the days of his 
affliction. 

We could not say that we knew Mr. O'Screens- 
bury intimately, although we had met him several 
times at Mr. and Mrs. Firkins's, and at one or two 
other places ; at all of which he made a figure, and 
was conspicuous for the freedom and spirit of in- 
quiry common to English residents in the East. He 
was now, since the receipt of his last advices from 
England, evidently an altered man, and put on an ap- 
pearance of much more self-consequence and re- 
serve than I had ever remarked in his conduct before. 

I ascribed this alteration in his deportment to his 
sorrow for the death of his lamented father. The 
doctor thought that it was preparatory to his enter- 
ing upon the title and family estates of the O'Screens- 
burys. Our last meeting with him was not a long 
one : we chatted a short time, after condoling with 
him upon his late loss ; and, to wind off the eve- 



240 



HUNT FOR THE DOOR-LATCH. 



ning agreeably to his taste, he called for a large 
tumbler-full of some kind of ''hot mixturel^ which 
he drank off, bade us farewell, stuck his quizzing- 
glass between his cheek-bone and eye-brow, and 
leaving it there, began to feel his way to the door- 
latch like one groping in the dark. Having found it, 
he took his leave, and vanished. 




The Glass of Fashion. 



AN EARLY START. 241 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

An Early Start. — Inconveniences of Indecision. — Hint to 
Ladies travelling in the East. — Effects of Trade. — Cruel 
Suspension. — Passage on the Mahmoudieh Canal. — Ban- 
ger, Difficulty, and Disaster. — Scenes on the Canal. — 
Camels of the Pacha. — Cruelty to Horses. — Egyptian 
Darkness. 

The next morning we were up at the call of the 
muezzins from the minarets of Alexandria ; and, hav- 
ing satisfied the host, the servants, porters, " boots," 
bow-wahs, and the rest of the retainers of the hotel, 
we sent our baggage to the canal-boat, and took 
leave of all parties. 

Perhaps the reader will indulge me here with a 
little familiar chat by the way, which may be useful 
to all who visit the East. 

Travelling in Turkey for amusement, and not 
knowing at what particular point of the Levant it 
might cease to be agreeable ; or whence, perhaps, 
it might be more convenient to direct our course 
toward home, rather than continue our wanderings 
in that barbarous region, — we found ourselves some- 
what in the predicament of the sailor who had turned 
farmer in his old age. 

Never being able to decide in the morning, before 

Vol. L — 31 



242 INCONVENIENCES OF INDECISION. 

he left his house, what particular branch of his busi- 
ness he would take up for the daj, the old sailor 
did not fail, on going into the field, to encumber 
himself with nearly all the implements of husbandry 
that he had in the world. Having been used to run 
up and down the rigging of a ship all his life, he 
could not reconcile himself to the idea, on retiring 
from the sea, of having nothing to climb in his de- 
clining years. So he selected a farm on the side of a 
steep mountain, with his house at its base ; and, on 
daily climbing up to his eagle-nest fields, he sel- 
dom omitted to load himself with his beetle and 
wedges, axe, crowbar, hoe, pick-axe, and bush-scythe. 
" For," said he, *' I cannot tell, before I get upon the 
top of the mountain, whether I shall finally decide 
to go to cutting and splitting rails, hoeing potatoes, 
digging stone, or mowing brush. I always find it 
convenient to have all my tools tvith me, and then I 
can easily turn my hand to any thing." And we, 
with about the same amount of wisdom, and with 
the same idea of convenience in our heads, on giving 
up our carriage at Trieste, had embarked with a load 
of trunks, boxes, and carpet-bags, containing a great 
many superfluous articles of clothing, as well as a 
variety of curiosities of one sort or another, which 
we had collected during the previous six months, in 
our rambles over Italy, Switzerland, and Germa- 
ny, as reminiscences of travel. Perhaps it will be 
useless to inform the reader, that we found this 
redundance very troublesome. But travellers in 
the East must necessarily carry their houses, bed, 



HINT TO LADIES. 243 

kitchen, and provision along with them. We were 
almost unavoidably adding to our already overgrown 
and cumbersome burden every day. The question 
most important had become, not how we ourselves 
were to get on, but in what manner was it possible to 
convey our baggage 1 

It may not be amiss, in passing, to observe also, 
that, as a general thing, ladies who may be travelHng 
in Egypt, Arabia, and the Holy Land, will have very 
little use for ball-dresses, extra bonnets, and jewels, 
for some forty or fifty years to come. All such 
useful appendages to a lady's toilet under certain 
circumstances, and in certain parts of the civiUzed 
world, may as well be left at home, on setting 
out to visit the East, or advanced no further than 
the winter quarters of the Mediterranean fleet ; at 
which point, should they be fond of gayety, and hap- 
pen to hit upon ''the season" a few extras will be 
found quite convenient. For the brave old commo- 
dores in the Mediterranean, though sometimes, at the 
rumours of war, exhibiting slight symptoms of timid- 
ity and fear ; and, as is said, at the suggestion of the 
late diplomatic oracle near the Court of St. James, 
slip their cables a little too hastily and run home to 
take shelter in more secure quarters, are nevertheless, 
as goes their fame, exceedingly valorous among the 
ladies, and very excellent horse-jockeys. They un- 
derstand perfectly well, too, it is said, the comparative 
merits and intrinsic value of jackasses and mules. 
Some of these horse-jockey, mule-driving, and jack- 
ass-trading commodores, it is also said, have been 



244 CRUEL SUSPENSION. 

pulled up a little by the bit latterly, and " hauled over 
the coals" for their too eager propensity to deal in 
mules and other animals on board ship, and have 
been duly punished by a suspension from the service, 
on full pay! — a severe penalty, certainly, if true, and 
one can hardly imagine how a man of spirit could 
suffer existence in this censorious world, after such 
a deep and palpable degradation ! However, I do 
not vouch for the fact of what may be nothing but 
malicious rumour, put forth by the backbiting tongue 
of slanderers and bitter enemies. I can only say 
that, in addition to the above, common fame gives 
them undisputed claims to a fine taste in wines ; and, 
however much or little they may have been fright- 
ened at the recent " ten sail of the line" threat of 
John Bull, they are not afraid of late hours, and 
keep up, on board ship, through " the season," a se- 
ries of soirees, balls, and fetes, nearly or quite equal 
in brilhancy to the elegant entertainments given by 
some of the resident diplomats near the courts of 
the different kingdoms of Europe. 

But, further east than the winter station of the 
Mediterranean fleet, with the exception of a few gen- 
teel dinner-dresses, which may perhaps be found ne- 
cessary and convenient at Athens, in order to make 
a decent and respectable appearance at the elegant 
and hospitable mansion of Mr. and Mrs. Hill, the 
worthy American missionaries ; who, for the good of 
the cause, are making great sacrifices at that impor- 
tant missionary station, by all means advance noth- 



ADVICE TO THE LADIES. 245 

ing that is superfluous to your immediate wants, but 
leave all extras behind. 

One good substantial bonnet is quite enough, until 
it is worn out ; and even then, as the Turkish ladies 
wear none themselves, a lady from Europe or Amer- 
ica, travelling in that country, would run no risk of 
being thought singular in her dress, to go without any 
bonnet at all. A few changes of plain, strong dress- 
es, and their accompaniments, made with a view to 
pretty rough work, rather than to grace the drawing- 
room, will be found quite sufficient ; and much more 
appropriate for travelling, in that rude and barbarous 
part of the world, than a wardrobe stuffed to burst- 
ing with the fragile dresses usually worn by ladies in 
the cities of Europe and America. To the super- 
latively refined ladies of the " literary emporium," 
whose commendable sense of propriety dictated the 
importance of putting petticoats upon Greenough's 
Cupids, and who cannot descend to the vulgarity of 
calling pantaloons by any more revolting name than 
" inexpressibles,^' I would beg leave to volunteer my 
advice, not to go to Egypt at all. For there, vulgar 
old Nature is exhibited in a style more obnoxious to 
good taste and refinement, if possible, even than 
Greenough's statues. Don't go ; by all means stay at 
home; m'ake petticoats and ^'inexpressibles' to send 
to the garden of Eden ; and attend to your " blues." 
But whatever might have been our opinion in refer- 
ence to the good or bad taste of the Egyptian cos- 
tume, we had already advanced too far, to retreat 



246 DISAGREEABLE PASSAGE. 

with satisfaction to ourselves, without going still 
further, and seeing more. 

We had taken some pains to visit the country ; and 
we desired to see its inhabitants, its antiquities, and 
other peculiarities. If our eyes occasionally fell up- 
on other than its beauties, its fertility ; if they some- 
times dropped down upon the very nakedness of the 
land — we did not deem the circumstance a sufficient 
barrier to deter us from penetrating still deeper into 
the mysteries, and the strange scenes of the East. 

The boat's departure up the canal was advertised 
for seven o'clock in the morning ; and, with much 
perseverance and considerable pushing with Selim, 
who by this time (as it was getting too late for us to 
make new arrangements) began to feel his impor- 
tance, we got down to the canal just in time, as we 
supposed, to save our passage. 

We soon discovered, however, that we should have 
run no great risk in being a little more easy and de- 
liberate in our movements ; for but very few passen- 
gers had assembled, and it was nearly ten o'clock 
before we finally got under way. 

We were, however, at last, moving up the canal ; 
but from the time we left the landing at Alexandria 
until we pulled up against the banks of the Nile, at 
Atfa, it was one almost unbroken scene of uproar, 
confusion, disaster, and danger. 

The moment the order w^as given for the boat to 
start, the Arab drivers began to belabour the horses 
stoutly with their corbashes, and set up a shout hide- 
ous enough to frighten the poor animals out of their 



ARAB HORSES. 247 

harness. The horses, fine Arabians, were all spirited 
and noble creatures ; and when the Arabs began to 
Avhip them, off they ran, kicking, plunging, and ca- 
reering to their own music. The more spirited and 
agitated the horses became, under the galling lash 
and yelling of their drivers, the more assiduous were 
they in the use of the whip. But the horses, evi- 
dently displeased with such tumultuous and tantali- 
zing fondling, soon broke away from the boat and, 
their " persuaders," kicked out of the harness, threw 
their riders, set off at the top of their speed, and 
directly disappeared. 

The drivers picked themselves out of the sand, 
and endeavoured, by running, to overtake the horses ; 
but they soon lost sight of them, and gave up the 
chase as hopeless. They were now desired to go 
to the next station, and order a new set of horses ; 
and, in the mean time, the wind being favourable, we 
hoisted sail, and moved on moderately before the 
breeze. 

We passed a large number of boats filled with 
corn, slaves, and natives of the country, going down 
to Alexandria ; and some light boats crowded with 
passengers, natives of Egypt, were making an easy 
and indolent headway up the canal. We also saw 
nearly two hundred of the Pacha's camels moving off 
under the guidance of their drivers into the interior 
of the Delta, after the government share of the wheat 
and other produce of the country. 

The sight was a novel one to us, for we had nev- 
er seen above eight or ten camels together at any 



245 



TREATMENT OF HORSES. 



one time before ; and those of the Pacha were much 
larger than any we had seen elsewhere — they 
were immense creatm*es with one hmnp only — real 
baggage camels ; any one of which would carry 
seven or eight hundred pounds weight upon his 
back with apparent ease. They tottled along slowly 
over the plain ; and our eyes followed them until 
they were lost to the sight. 

, We continued our course under an easy sail for 
an hour or two, when the Arab drivers returned with 
a fresh set of horses. They were four beautiful 
Arabians. But they were no sooner attached to 
the tow-line of the boat and mounted, than a new 
scene of frolic, confusion, entanglement, and peril 
commenced. All experience seemed to be lost 
upon them ; and served for little else, apparently, 
than to harden them in folly and culpable obstinacy. 
Regardless of the consequence of their violence to 
the other horses, the drivers had no sooner mounted 
and set out with these, than they began to apply 
their whips as lustily over their sides and flanks as 
ever. And, as might have been expected, the fresh 
animals were no more gentle and docile under such a 
brutal cudgelling, than were those which had al- 
ready broken away and fled from their unmerciful 
masters. 

The horses frisked, kicked, squealed, and ran; 
and the drivers, to quiet them, and keep them steady, 
laid the butt-end of their corhashes heavily over their 
heads; — hallooing and yelling at the top of their 
voices as before, like maniacs endeavouring to tame 



TREATMENT OF HORSES. 249 

wild beasts. These noble animals soon became per- 
fectly frantic. They dashed along over the path 
like the wind. Our old boat followed them like a 
kite ; and created such an agitation in the water as 
to be of no small detriment to the sandy banks of 
the Cc^nal. Whenever we passed any of the little 
llat-bottomed boats, filled with the Egyptians (many 
of which were on the canal), they all screamed with 
fright, lest we, in our fiend-like course, should cap- 
size them. Their little frail barks, though deeply 
laden, danced like bubbles upon the waves. Some- 
times we were pushed with a dangerous crash 
against the shore ; sometimes entangled with other 
boats in the middle of the canal ; and sometimes 
crushed against those that were moored along the 
side of that fine avenue of water. Thus we floun- 
dered along from bad to worse, until we were 
brought up again with a round-turn. 

One horse, through the mismanagement of the 
drivers, was precipitated into the canal; another 
commenced such a violent kicking that he endan- 
gered the lives and limbs of all around him. He 
threw his driver, kicked out of the harness, and 
broke away from his tormentors entirely. While 
two of them held the horses still left in their pos- 
session, the other drivers stripped themselves stark na- 
ked, and plunged into the canal ; and, aided by sev- 
eral hands from the boat, endeavoured to disentangle 
the poor animal from his harness, and get him out 
of the water. It was a long time, however, before 
they succeeded ; and when they at last dragged him 

Vol. I.— 32 



250 ARRIVAL AT ATFA. 

to land, the harness was found to be in such a dilap- 
idated state, so tattered and torn, that a full hour 
was consumed in its restoration and adjustment ; 
after which, we set out again for a new race. And 
although the brutal drivers succeeded in keeping 
possession of three of the horses for the remainder 
of the distance, we were continually committing some 
depredation or folly, by violently running against 
other boats in the canal, or grounding upon the 
banks. 

This was the most abominably conducted public 
conveyance that 1 have ever seen in any part of the 
world ; worse even than the Austrian steamers on 
the Adriatic and the Danube. As might have been 
expected, under such unpropitious guidance, it was 
nine o'clock in the evening before we reached Atfa; 
a distance which, with fair management, might have 
been accomplished in two-thirds of a day. 

The weather, from alternate squalls and calms, 
drizzling showers and bright sunshine, at last settled 
for the night into a steady and powerful rain-storm. 
"It was as dark as Egypt;" and, although we had 
often been told that it never rains in that country, 
yet, since our arrival, the rain had been pouring down 
with the constancy and profusion of a Scotch dew 
in harvest-time. 



AM AGREEABLE ACQUAINTANCE. ' 251 



CHAPTER XIX. 

An Agreeahle Acquaintance. — Enlightened Policy of Mehe- 
met AH exemplified. — Taxation, Soil, and Cultivation in 
the Delta. — Unexpected Authority. — Wisdom, Justice, 
and Mercy go hand in hand. — Tax-gathering, Retribution 
and Butchery, 

On our passage up the canal, we had the pleasure 
to make the acquaintance of Mr. Larkin, the Eng- 
lish Vice Consul at Alexandria, whom we found to 
be intelligent, affable, and every way agreeable — en- 
tirely free from that conceited cant, vulgar affecta- 
tion, and contemiptilAe hauteur which are the pre- 
vailing characteristics of the manners of a very large 
majority of Englishmen whom we met in our orien- 
tal wanderings. 

Mr. Larkin left the boat on reaching his estates, 
situated about two thirds of the distance from Alex- 
andria to Atfa, where he has several thousand acres 
of the finest land in the Delta. 

This most excellent tract of land, Mr. L. informed 
us, he had taken possession of two or three years pre- 
vious to our arrival in Egypt. He was bringing the 
whole into cultivation as fast as the condition of the 



252 ENLIGHTENED POLICY OF MEHEMET ALL 

inhabitants on the estates, and the circumstances of 
the country would permit. 

This grant of land to Mr. L. is one of the enhght- 
ened acts of the Pacha of Egjpt ; and an illustration 
of the liberal policy which he has ever evinced 
in favour of all respectable foreigners. It was ne- 
cessary to be in the good graces of the Pacha, and to 
have his entire confidence, in order to get possession 
of so large a tract of the rich soil of Egypt. All 
arrearages of taxes upon the land were required 
to be paid by Mr. L. previous to his taking pos- 
session of it 

An annual rent of about $2 50 per acre on all 
that is brought into cultivation is exacted as a tax 
to be paid to the government. This tax is appa- 
rently high, — but not so in fact ; since, on about 
three thousand acres, which Mr. Larkin has already 
brought into a state of productiveness, he is only 
taxed on eight hundred. This is the amount which 
he is estimated to have under cultivation. 

The officers of the department, whose duty it is to 
assess the taxes, have estimated and put him down 
at that amount, without making any inquiry of Mr. 
Larkin upon the subject ; thinking, probably, that it 
would be quite impossible for him to have a largei 
number of acres under cultivation. 

The land is very productive ; and, in ordinary sea- 
sons, with proper attention and plentiful irrigation, it 
may be made to produce two or three crops a year. 
His extensive territory spreads over several large 
villages, all of which, including the inhabitants, are 



UNEXPECTED AUTHORITY. 253 

comprised in the grant from government. In accord- 
ance with the usual manner of conducting pubUc 
affairs in Eastern countries, the people on the soil 
go with it, on the change of hands, and are under 
the control of the proprietor. The consequence ' 
was, that Mr. Larkin, unexpectedly to himself, at the 
time he made arrangements for the land, suddenly 
found his authority extended to a complete jurisdic- 
tion, in all ordinary cases, over the whole population 
of his land. This was made known to him upon 
his application to the legal authorities of Alexandria 
for the punishment of some of the Egyptians on his 
estates. He was told that the people were in his 
hands, entirely under his jurisdiction, and to be dealt 
with as he, in his wisdom and mercy, might deem 
just and advisable. 

His authority, though quite complete and absolute 
in all other respects, does not extend to cases of 
life and death. But in all instances except those of 
capital crime, the convicted party for all minor 
offences is quite at the mercy of the proprietor of the 
soil. 

At first, it was very difficult, nay, next to impos- 
sible, to impress the Arabs with the idea that they 
had any thing like justice or humanity to expect 
from any quarter. They looked upon Mr. Larkin 
in the same light in which they and their ancestors 
had been accustomed to view the odious Beys, 
Memlooks, and all the Turkish oppressors for many ^ 
past centuries. All their possessions, heretofore, 
had been at the mercy, and subject to the despotic 



254 ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 

will, of their tyrannical masters. Life and prop- 
erty were both hable to be seized upon at any 
moment, and snatched away from them by the 
cruel hand of power, without equity or reason. 

As an illustration of the manner in which justice 
was formerly administered by the governor of this 
very district, it may not be considered inapposite, 
perhaps, to copy the following from Mr. Lane's 
excellent work* on the Manners and Customs of 
the Modern Egyptians. 

The governor of El-Menoofeey eh, " a short time be- 
fore my present visit to Egypt," says Mr. Lane, "in 
collecting the taxes at a village, demanded of a poor 
peasant the sum of sixty riyals (ninety fuddahs each, 
making a sum total of a hundred and thirty-five pias- 
tres, which was then equivalent to about thirty shil- 
lings). The poor man urged that he possessed noth- 
ing but a cow, which barely afforded sustenance to 
himself and his family. Instead of pursuing the 
method usually followed when a fellah declares him- 
self unable to pay the tax demanded of him, which 
is to give him a severe bastinading, the nazir (or gov- 
ernor), in this case, sent the Sheykh el-Beled to bring 
the poor man's cow, and desired some of the fellah 
een to buy it. They saying that they had not suffi- 
cient money, he sent for a butcher and desired him to 
kill the cow, which was done. He then told him to 
divide it into sixty pieces. The butcher asked for 
his pay ; and was given the head of the cow. Sixty 
fellaheen were then called together ; and each of them 

• Lane's Modern Egyptians, vol. i. pp. 173, 174, 175. 



ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 255 

was compelled to purchase, for a rijal, a piece of the 
cow. The owner of the cow went weeping and 
complaining to the superior of the nazir, the late 
Mohammed Bej, Defturdar. ' My uiaster,' said he, 

• I am oppressed and in misery : I had no property but 
one cow, a milch cow : and I and my family lived 
upon her milk ; and she ploughed for me and threshed 
my corn ; and my Avhole subsistence was derived from 
her^ the nazir has taken her, and killed her, and cut 
her up into sixty pieces, and sold the pieces to my 
neighbours ; to each a piece for one riyal ; so that he 
obtained but sixty riyals for the whole, while the 
value of the cow was a hundred and twenty riyals, 
or more. I am oppressed and in misery, and a 
stranger in the place, for I came from another vil- 
lage ; but the nazir had no pity on me. I and my 
family are become beggars, and have nothing left. 
Have mercy on me, and give me justice : I implore 
it by thy harem.' The defturdar, having caused the 
nazir to be brought before him, asked him, ' Where 
is the cow of this fellah V — 'I have sold it,' said the 
nazir. 'For how mucliT — 'For sixty riyals.' — 

* Why did you kill it and sell it ?' — ' He owed sixty 
riyals for land : so I took his cow, and killed it, and 
sold it for the am_ount.' — 'Where is the butcher that 
killed it V — 'In Menoof ' The butcher was sent for, 
and brought. The defturdar said to him, ' Why did 
you kill this man's cow?' — ' The nazir desired me,' 
he answered, ' and I could not oppose him. If I at- 
tempted to do so, he would have beaten me and de- 
stroyed my house : I killed it, and the nazir gave me 



256 ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 

the head as my reward.' — ' Man,' said the defturdar, 
' do you know the persons who bought the meat V 
The butcher repUed that he did. The defturdar 
then desired his secretary to write the names of the 
sixty men, and an order to the sheykh of the village, 
to bring them to Menoof, where this complaint was 
made. The nazir and butcher were placed in con- 
finement till the next morning ; when the sheykh of 
the village came, with the sixty fellaheen. The^wo 
prisoners were then brought before the defturdar, who 
said to the sheykh and sixty peasants, ' Was the 
value of this man's cow sixty riyals V — ' O, our mas- 
ter,' they answered, ' the value was greater.' The 
defturdar sent for the ckadee of Menoof, and said to 
him, ' O ckadee, here is a man oppressed by the na- 
zir, who has taken his cow and killed it, and sold its 
flesh for sixty riyals. What is thy judgment V The 
ckade^e replied, ' He is a cruel tyrant, who oppresses 
every one under his authority. Is not a cow worth 
a hundred and twenty riyals, or more 1 And he has 
sold this for sixty riyals. This is tyranny toward the 
owner.' The defturdar then said to some of the sol- 
diers, ' Take the nazir, and strip him and bind him.* 
This done, he said to the butcher, ' Butcher, dost 
thou not fear God ? Thou hast killed the cow un- 
justly.' The butcher again urged that he was obliged 
to obey the nazir. ' Then,' said the defturdar, ' if I 
order thee to do a thing, wilt thou do it V — 'I will 
do it,' said the butcher. ' Kill the nazir !' said the 
defturdar. Immediately, several of the soldiers pre- 
sent seized the nazir, and threw him down, and the 



RETRIBUTION AND BUTCHERY. 257 

butcher cut his throat, in the regular orthodox man- 
ner of kilUng animals for food. * Now cut him up/ 
said the defturdar, ' into sixty pieces.' This was 
done, the people concerned in the affair, and many 
others, looking on : but none daring to speak. The 
sixty peasants who had bought the meat of the cow 
were then called forward, one after another, and each 
was made to take a piece of the flesh of the nazir, 
and to pay for it two riyals ; so that a hundred and 
twenty riyals were obtained from them. They were 
then dismissed ; but the butcher remained. The cka- 
dee was asked what should be the reward of the 
butcher 1 and answered that he should be paid as he 
had been paid by the nazir. The defturdar there- 
fore ordered that the head of the nazir should be 
given to him ; and the butcher went away with this 
worse than valueless burden, thanking God that he 
had not been more unfortunate, and scarcely believ- 
ing himself to have so easily escaped, until he ar- 
rived at his village. The money paid for the flesh 
of the nazir was given to the owner of the cow." 




The Butcher with two Heads. 

Vol. L — 33 



258 DESPOTISM AND DEGRADATION. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Despotism and Degradation. — Poverty preferable to Wealth. 
— Justice and Humanity rewarded. — " Reigning by Di- 
vine Right." — Advantages of Commercial Intercourse to 
Civilization. — Cheerfulness and Labour. — Multiplicity of 
Wives offers no Impediment to Prosperity in Egypt. — Mah- 
moudieh Canal. — Dikes and Canals of Egypt, 

Unused to the protection or sympathy of the gov- 
ernment, and ever a prey to the cupidity and mean- 
ness of petty tyrants, the inhabitants of this district 
had long since ceased to desire the possession of 
weakh, or any thing more than the mere requisites 
to their vv^retched subsistence, lest the jealousy of 
their oppressors should be excited ; and, falling un- 
der the dangerous suspicion of having more than 
sufficient to keep life and body together, they should 
be brought to the rack, the bastinado, and other 
tortures : w^hich are sometimes vrorse even than death 
itself ! 

Though basking in a genial sun, and residing upon 
a soil of incomparable fertility and richness, they had 
no desire to possess the land, or to avail themselves 
of its great productive wealth; the bare necessa- 
ries of life being their sole aim, and the utmost 



POVERTY PREFERABLE TO WEALTH. 259 

height of their ambition. They, as well as their 
forefathers for many long generations past, greatly 
preferred the wretchedness and misery that every 
where pervaded the country, to the risks of perse- 
cution,which the possession of property under a gov- 
ernment like that of Turkey, seldom fails to bring 
down upon tlje head of its proprietor. 

In absolute poverty, these miserable beings have 
found a kind of satisfaction in life, and the pro- 
tection and security which naturally flow to the 
possessor of wealth in civilized nations. But the 
mere suspicion, on the part of their rulers, of their 
having more than a competency for the moment, has 
been considered sufficiently criminal to endanger 
their lives. 

Happily for the long-degraded and cruelly-oppress- 
ed Egyptians upon Mr. Lar kin's estates, he possessed 
the feelings of a noble and generous nature, and 
was anxious to meliorate the sufferings of his fellow- 
creatures. He adopted an equitable and enlightened 
policy in his government of those over whom he ex- 
ercises an almost unlimited control. He obliges them 
all to work, and bring his land into cultivation. But, 
while he imposes upon all the wholesome duty of 
industry, he at the same time allows the labourers 
undisputed possession of one half of the gross pro- 
ducts of the soil. The other moiety he retains him- 
self, to defray the expenses of machinery and cattle 
to irrigate the land ; to pay the taxes and interest on 
the original outlay; and other incidental expenses. 
Even with such fair prospects before them, it was al- 



260 HUMANITY REWARDED. 

most impossible to convince the Arabs, at first, of his 
sincerity ; and that he, like all the petty Turkish of- 
ficers who have hitherto tyrannized over them, had 
not the secret intention to deprive them eventually 
of all. Their confidence, however, was gradually 
secured by his humane conduct toward them ; and 
they now come forward with the gi-eatest cheer- 
fulness, and enter upon the labours of the field with 
the most commendable assiduity. Looking up to 
him as a friend and deliverer, they listen to his coun- 
sel as to the voice of an oracle, and obey his com- 
mands on all occasions. 

He holds regular courts among them, to try all 
petty offenders and violators of the established rules 
for the government of the community ; punishes the 
guilty, and protects the innocent. In order to make 
the administration of justice as impressive upon their 
minds as possible, and to let them know that they are 
not to be punished if innocent, nor escape if guilty, 
he introduces as much ceremony and form into the 
" sitting of the divan" as is consistent with the de- 
spatch of business ; hears the witnesses of both par- 
ties, and decides the cases that come before him in 
accordance with equity and the evidefice adduced. 

Should this gentleman's life be prolonged, and he 
be permitted, under the protection of government, to 
follow up his praiseworthy plans of improvement, it 
cannot fail to produce a great moral and a most bene- 
ficial effect upon the minds of all those of whom he 
has been put in charge. 

A few individuals like Mr. Larkin, distributed over 



HEIGNKnG by "DIVINE RIGHT." "^bl 

the Turkish empire, protected in their humane and 
equitable endeavours to mehorate the condition of 
the long-oppressed and degraded people, would do 
much more to regenerate and enlighten the nation, 
than the " ten sail of the line" operations of her Ma- 
jesty's government, arming the barbarians of the 
Syrian mountains, exciting insurrections among the 
people, bombarding and destroying the large towns 
upon the seacoast, and burying an unoffending popu- 
lation beneath their ruins ! It should not be forgot- 
ten, that one is the enlightened policy of the " old 
blood-thirsty tyrant," the Pacha of Egypt, " the vas- 
sal and illegitimate ruler ;" and the other, the barbarous 
measure of immaculate England, whose sovereign, 
according to the doctrine of her church, sedulously 
inculcated throughout the realm, and in all the other 
despotic kingdoms of Europe, reigns and tyrannizes 
over millions upon millions of human beings, by 
" divine right !" 

The Turks, and all the other eastern nations over 
which the religion of Mohammed has exercised its 
influences, have ever been, until quite recently, ac- 
customed to look upon Christians as dogs and infi- 
dels, and to regard the Franks with a jealous and 
suspicious eye, as unjust and wicked ; whom to rob 
and murder was considered a virtue, and even a duty 
in certain cases, rather than a crime. Could they 
be made practically to see their error, and that the 
Christians, disconnected with the sinister motives 
which generally actuate their rulers, instead of op- 
p?'essing, have a disposition to befriend, and a power 



262 CHEERFULNESS AND LABOR. 

to do them good, they would change their beUef, throw 
off those pernicious prejudices founded in ignorance 
and superstition, and long cherished with demoniac 
bitterness. They would gradually embrace a more 
enlightened and consistent faith, and a course of 
conduct more in accordance with that of civihzed 
nations. 

A free intercourse and exchange of commodities 
with other countries ; a liberal system of commerce 
and trade, such as the Pacha of Egypt had been ena- 
bled to introduce and protect in his dominions, previ- 
ously to the bombardment of the English on the 
Syrian coast, must effect this desirable change, if it 
be ever brought about at all. It can never be ac- 
complished by bolstering up a rotten, corrupt, super- 
annuated, abominable system of tyranny, such as that 
of the ''Sublime Porte' — now taken into the very 
bosom and hot-bed protection of the government of 
England. 

By invitation of Mr. Larkin, when we arrived at 
his estates, near the borders of the canal, we walked 
out to his workmen, who were erecting a large build- 
ing for a granary and stable. That, however, was 
merely to form one wing of an immense establish- 
ment which he intended to erect, including a palace 
and the other necessary buildings. They were going 
on rapidly with the work. Men, women, and chil- 
dren were ail busily engaged in the various depart- 
ments, and they appeared to be exceedingly cheerful 
and happy. Some were carrying stone, brick, lum- 
ber, mortar, and the other necessary materials, while 



MULTIPLICITY OF WIVES. 263 

Others were erecting the walls. They were using 
the material excavated from the ruins of ancient 
Alexandria, which are resorted to as the common 
quarries of all Lower Egypt. They are freely open 
to all who have an inclination to use them. 

Among the labourers upon Mr. Larkin's new build- 
ing, we saw a large number of young girls from ten 
to fourteen years of age. We were surprised to 
learn that most of them were already married. It 
is singular how very young the Egyptian peasants 
marry. Nine or ten years for girls, and twelve or 
fifteen years, for boys, is considered a marriageable 
age. Both sexes have so little objection to the con- 
jugal estate, that they get married as fast and as soon 
as possible. 

Being married once is only a beginning of matri- 
monial connexions in Egypt. Three or four wives 
apiece among the peasants is the most common thing 
in the world. In addition to which, there are al- 
most constant and continual changes. Old wives are 
being divorced, and new ones are taking their places ; 
so that the matrimonial ceremony, in some of its 
various forms, is almost continually passing before 
their eyes, and intermingled as it were with their 
daily avocations. 

The peasantry do not consider any number of 
wives, an encumbrance ; all of them being expected to 
work. An Egyptian, therefore, who has four good 
hearty young wives is looked upon as a man, as the 
English say, "well to do in the world;'' — or, as 
others would express themselves, " in a very flour- 



264 MAHMOUDIEH CANAL. 

ishing condition." These are blessings, I suppose, 
which those who find it hard work to support one, 
would hardly wish to enjoy; — still the fellahs of 
the vale of the Nile think otherwise ; and if they 
can keep out of the army, and evade the suspicion of 
the Turkish governors, they are pretty sure to enjoy 
themselves. They are a practical illustration of 
the remark, that " poor and content are rich, and rich 
enough." 

The Mahmoudieh Canal, communicating with the 
Nile at Atfa, and connecting that noble river with 
the Mediterranean at Alexandria, is a magnificent 
work ; and a vast improvement to the country. It 
is ninety feet broad, eighteen feet deep, and forty- 
eight miles in extent. All are free to acknowledge its 
utility, and praise the intelligent and enterprising spirit 
which actuated the Pacha in projecting and executing 
the work. Still, there are not wanting among the Eu- 
ropean and American travellers those who are rather 
profuse in their condemnation of Mehemet Ali for the 
tyranny which he exercised upon the natives during 
the progress of this most valuable improvement. It 
has been stated that it cost the lives of 20,000 of his 
subjects to accomplish it ; and that there were great 
suffering and distress among hundreds of thousands 
more ; an assertion that may or may not be true. But 
no one can perceive the necessity for such a sacrifice 
of human life in the completion of this undertaking ; 
nor why it should have occasioned any great de- 
gree of suffering among a population of two millions 
of labourers to have excavated a canal that one or two 



CANALS OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 265 

hundred thousand of their numbers could have com- 
pleted with ease in a month or six weeks, even if, 
as is commonly reported, they were compelled to 
work for nothing. But, so far from this being the 
case, each labourer had a month's wages in advance. 
If the Pacha never employs his subjects upon any 
enterprise of less utiUty to their country and of great- 
er detriment to other nations than the Mahmoudieh 
Canal, I think the Enghsh, who find it very conve- 
nient in facilitating the progress of the Indian mail 
through Egypt, and in the conveyance of their gov- 
ernors and soldiers to carry on the work of tyranny 
over the Asiatics, may, at least, keep silence about 
the " blood-thirsty tyranny" of the Pacha on that sub- 
ject. 

The great canal, connecting the Red Sea with the 
Nile, excavated a little more than six hundred years 
before our era, cost the Egyptians " six score thou- 
sand livres."* According to Herodotus, that noble 
work was commenced by Necho.f It was four days* 
journey in length, one hundred feet wide, and 
forty feet in depth. It was connected with the Red 
Sea by sluices ; as was also the case at its other ex- 
tremity with the Nile. These sluices were exceed- 
ingly important, if, indeed, not absolutely indispensa- 
ble; since the waters of the Red Sea are considera- 
bly higher than the Nile, at all seasons of the year, 
except during the inundation, when the waters of 

• Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. p. 70. 

t Ibid. p. 161, note. — Strabo (17) says, "The canal was commenced by 
Sesostris before the Trojan war. Some suppose by Psammaticus the son, 
who only began the work and died. It was afterward finished by Darius." 

Vol. L— 34 



266 



DIKES AND CANALS. 



the Nile, if allowed to enter the canal unrestrained, 
would have been no less inconvenient and destruc- 
tive to the work, than the current created by the 
Red Sea, if admitted in full volume into it at all other 
seasons of the year. This important work was 
carried through a region of sand that every wind of 
the desert puts in motion ; consequently, without in- 
cessant care and attention, a few years were sufficient 
to render it unnavigable and wholly useless. It was 
repaired and kept open by the monarchs of Egypt 
down to the times of the Ptolemies and Caesars ; 
when it was neglected and permitted to go to decay. 
On the revival of commerce with India, the commu- 
nication by water between the Red Sea and the Nile 
was again opened. This was accomplished by the 
Califs ; and the canal continued to be used until the 
passage round the Cape of Good Hope finally de- 
stroyed the trade of Alexandria. Then it sunk into 
comparative inutility, and was ultimately so far filled 
up with sand as to leave at the present day but slight 
traces of its existence. 

In the most prosperous days of Egypt, when that 
fertile and productive kingdom was governed by her 
native princes, the country was intersected with ca- 
nals and dikes in all directions. In consequence of 
which, the invaluable waters of the Nile — once the 
god, and ever the glory and wealth of the Egyptians 
— were restrained or diffused over the genial soil, in 
accordance with the most fertilizing and enlightened 
principles of irrigation. It was then that Joseph* 

• Gen. xli. 49. 



IMPROVEMENTS OF SESOSTRIS. 267 

gathered com " as the sand of the sea, very much, 
until he left off numbering ; for it was without num- 
ber." 

Sesostris, who, according to Mr. Wilkinson,* was 
of the twelfth dynasty of the native Egyptian kings, 
after conquering all Asia and Europe as far as 
Thrace, employed the numerous captives which he 
brought back from the conquered nations, " in dig- 
ging large canals, and raising dikes and embank- 
ments, for the purposes of irrigation, the protection 
of the towns and lands, and the distribution of the 
water of the Nile during the inundation. And though 
these had been previously established throughout the 
country by his predecessors, the superior scale on 
which they were now constructed, the many wise 
regulations he introduced relative to landed property, 
and the accurate surveys he caused to be made in 
order to ascertain the levels and extent of every per- 
son's estate, obtained for Sesostris the credit of hav- 
ing been the first to intersect the plains of Egypt 
with canals, and of having introduced the science 
of mensuration and land-surveying." 

These highly useful public works were under the 
especial care and direction of the government. Sol- 
diers were appointed to watch over them, and proper 
officers were directed to keep them in thorough 
repair.f 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. pp. 29, 103. 

t Ibid. vol. iv. pp. 101—103. — " Guards were placed to watch the dikes 
which protected the lowlands, and the utmost care was taken to prevent any 
sudden influx of water which might endanger the produce still growing there, 
the cattle, or the village. And of such importance was the preservation 



268 DECAY OF PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. 

Under the Persians, all the pubUc improvements 
of Egypt suffered a dedine, — and the Greeks were 
scarcely more careful of them ; while, under the Ro- 
mans, they ran to far greater dilapidation ; but the 
consummation of their total ruin was reserved for the 
Arabs and Turks. So that, with the exception of the 
noble Mahmoudieh Canal, and a half- filled ditch con- 
ducting the water of the Nile, during the inundation, 
from the river to the city of Cairo, there is not a ca- 
nal at the present day throughout the whole valley 
of the Nile that is kept in decent repair, or that is 
capable of being used to the least advantage to the 
country. 

of the dikes, that a strong guard of cavalry and infantry was always in at- 
tendance for their protection, certain officers of responsibility were appointed 
to superintend them, and large sums of money were annually expe&ded for 
their maintenance and repairs." 




Canal (Alimentabt) in good Repair. 



INTRODUCTORY LETTERS. 269 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Introductory Letters from Mr. Firkins. — J^ew Acquaintance. 

— Inconvenient Delay. — JSTecessity strengthens Confidence. 

— Flattering Prospects not likely to he realized. — Disap- 
pointments not always conducive to Humility. — JYile-hoat 
and Fellow-passenger. — Unsatisfactory Investigation. — 
Unpleasant Dilemma. — Sailor's Importunity rejected. — 
Gloomy Prospect. — Arab Captain. — Departure. 

Mr. Firkins, in order to give us the benefit of 
passing through the hands of as many of his friends 
as possible, was kind enough, previously to his setting 
off w^ith the Wrinklebottoms up the Nile, to write 
several flattering letters in our behalf, which he in- 
sisted upon our delivering. Among others, there was 
one addressed to Mr. Menasseh SchliUinger, his com- 
mercial correspondent at Atfa ; who, at the same time, 
was the confidential agent of the British consulate 
at Alexandria. On presenting us with these valuable 
and highly -esteemed introductions, which we received 
somewhat reluctantly, after what had happened, Mr. 
Firkins was careful to remark, with great emphasis, 
that Mr. SchliUinger was one of his particular friends, 
who, on our arrival at Atfa, " would most gladly iio 
himself the pleasure to make all the necessary ar- 
rangements for the continuation of our excursion 



270 ARRIVAL AT ATFA. 

free of charge ; and that we would therefore expe- 
rience no inconvenience or delay whatever, further 
than what would be absolutely necessary to transfer 
ourselves and luggage from one boat to another." 
He also observed that he " was going through the same 
route with his esteemed friends the Wrinklebottoms ; 
and, anticipating us, he would not fail to apprize 
Mr. Schlillinger of our expected arrival at Atfa ; and 
would request him to be in perfect readiness to re- 
ceive us, and make all the necessary arrangements 
for our embarkation on the Nile." 

Thus provided with this respectahle recommenda 
tion to Mr. Schlillinger, in which our names were 
not only mentioned in the most flattering terms, but 
in which we were styled Mr. Firkins's particular 
friends, we felt, on our arrival at Atfa, a little curious 
about the future, though we congratulated ourselves 
that we had made the Jehu kind of voyage of the 
canal with unbroken limbs, and with our heads still 
upon our shoulders. 

As it was raining incessantly at the time, and as it 
was too dark to venture into the village, we enclosed 
the letter of Mr. Firkins, with our comphments to 
Mr. Schlillinger, and requested the favour, if perfectly 
convenient to himself, to engage next morning a good 
boat and crew for us, so that we might proceed on 
the voyage at as early an hour as possible. Selim, 
who was the bearer of this despatch, made all conve- 
nient haste, for the rain and Egyptian darkness ren- 
dered loitering by the way, at that time of night, rather 
an unpleasant amusement. 



A NEW ACQUAINTANCE. 271 

Luckily, Selim found Mr. Sclilillinger at home, and 
soon came back to us with a very polite note, in 
which Mr. SchUUinger begged to excuse himself for 
not calling upon us that evening (which of course we 
did not expect him to do) ; and urged, as an apology, 
the inclemency of the weather, and the exceeding 
darkness of the night. Indeed, I have no recollec- 
tion of ever experiencing so dark a niglit before in 
all my life ; and it is very seldom that even the dark- 
est day in England, when they get up the richest 

and most aristocratic fos: that ever obscured the din- 
es 

gy streets of London, can be compared to that night 
for blackness. 

Mr. Schlillinger kindly observed in his note, that 
''his esteemed friend Mr. Firkins, on passing through 
Atfa a day or tw^o before, had mentioned our names 
to him in a very kind rqanner ; and he was much 
gratified in having it now in his power to do some- 
thing for us ; and we might rest assured that we were 
quite safe in his hands. Every thing should be ar- 
ranged in accordance with our wishes by the next 
morning, so that we might set off from Atfa, at latest, 
by seven or eight o'clock." 

Having received this pleasing intelligence from 
Mr. SchUUinger, there being no hotel or khan in the 
place, we unrolled our beds, lay down in the boat, 
and slept soundly until daylight the next morning. 

The perplexity of getting our luggage packed and 
sent off to the boat ; the parting scene with Mrs. Fir- 
kins and Mr. O'Statten the night before ; the rath- 
er late hour's condolence with Mr. O'Screensbury ; 



272 INCONVENIENT DELAY. 

and the fatigue and excitement of the voyage up the 
canal, had all combined to prepare us for the silent 
enjoyment of repose. 

Day had no sooner dawned upon the desert, and 
scattered its cheering influences through the rich 
vale of Egypt, than we arose, and took up our 
beds to walk. It had ceased to rain, though it was 
still cloudy, and threatened another deluge. In ac- 
cordance with Mr. Schhllinger's polite note which 
he had done us the honour to write the evening 
before, we expected the boat in which we were 
to ascend the Nile would soon be ready. In the 
mean time, we had a hasty breakfast prepared, which 
we despatched in a hurried manner ; and, having put 
our ponderous baggage in order, we were ready to 
take possession of the boat. But, as was the case 
the day before, we found there was no necessity 
for hurrying ourselves, or of abridging the pleas- 
ures of a more prolonged morning nap ; for it was 
ten o'clock before our boat was announced as be- 
ing ready. We, of course, trusting all to Mr. Schlil- 
Hnger, to whom w^e came so highly recommended by 
his ^'•esteemed friendl' saw no necessity or propriety 
in interfering with our own business, since w^e had 
not only his assurance that we were " perfectly safe 
in his hands," but the declarations of Mr. Firkins at 
the time he gave us the letters of introduction, were 
more than sufficient to annihilate all doubts that could 
possibly obtrude themselves in ordinary circumstances. 

In addition to the attention of Mr. Schlillinger, 
who was enlisted in our interest, and who was zeal- 



NECESSITY STRENGTHENS CONFIDENCE. 273 

ously bent upon " doing something for us" while there 
was yet an opportunity, we added the energies of our 
gayly-attired, though, by this time, rather soiled Ara- 
bian dragoman ; who, of course, to serve us in the best 
possible manner, would not stick at any thing. There 
could be little doubt that, between them both, a close 
bargain would be driven, and the utmost care taken 
to procure a boat every way convenient, so that the 
remainder of our voyage to Cairo might be completed 
in the most agreeable manner. Besides, it was not 
only civil, perhaps, inasmuch as it showed the degree 
of confidence which we reposed in the undoubted 
integrity of Mr, Schlillinger, not to interfere with the 
arrangements which he was kindly making in our be- 
half, — but it was an unavoidable necessity, which 
rather constrained us to that confiding course, since 
neither the doctor nor myself knew a word of Arabic ; 
and I do not suppose there was a single individual in 
Atfa, with the exception of ourselves, Mr. SchUllinger, 
and the dragoman, who understood a syllable of any 
other language. In addition to which, the wretched 
condition of the streets, being a complete slough of 
mud, did not offer much inducement to ramble about 
the village or the banks of the river, for business or 
pleasure. 

The doctor felt scarcely more inclined to interfere 
directly with the pending negotiations for the boat, 
than I did myself; though we both had a lurking sus- 
picion that we might possibly be gulled a little in the 
bargain. 

However, about ten o'clock, the arrival of Sehm 

Vol. I. — 35 



274 FLATTERING PROSPECTS. 

and Mr. Schlillinger dissipated and dashed all our evil 
forebodings into bright and cheering prospects. They 
informed us they had succeeded in getting one of the 
best boats on the Nile, for the moderate price of four 
hundred and fifty piastres, to convey us as far as 
Cairo. We were to have the boat entirely to our- 
selves, and a crew of ten good men to navigate it 

I thought, according to the flattering representa- 
tions of Mr. Schlillinger and Selim, the arrangement 
was a pretty fair one ; though I had been told at Alex- 
andria that boats from Atfa to Cairo were usually ob- 
tained at prices considerably less. But as Mr. Schlil- 
linger gave us to understand that this boat and crew 
of ten men were going up expressly on our account, 
and that every thing was so commodious, comfortable, 
and convenient — the price, since it was the best that 
could be done, was not worth the least consideration. 
We ordered Selim to take our luggage on board, and 
soon prepared ourselves to follow it. 

Mr. Schlillinger, in the mean time, presented an 
agreement for our signatures, bagged the four hun- 
dred and fifty piastres, urged as an excuse for not 
attending us to the boat a press of important busi- 
ness, bade us adieu with raised hat — a thousand 
low bows — -a thousand expressions of regret that it 
was out of his power " to do any thing more for us," 
begged a kind remembrance to his esteemed friend 
Mr. Firkins, and then departed. 

My wife made some remarks upon his affa- 
bility, as soon as he was gone, and thought him a 
very gentlemanly and obliging man. My mind 



DISAPPOINTMENT. 275 

was quite as favourably disposed toward him ; but, 
upon my making some further remarks in his praise 
to the doctor, he said we had better go on board the 
boat, and then we would probably be enabled to 
make up a more correct judgment. 

Accordingly, we took the accustomed leave of the 
servants on board the canal-boat, and left it. But, 
the moment we stepped on shore, it was with the 
greatest difficulty that we could stand upright ; and 
our feet at the same time stuck to the ground as if 
they had been pinned to the spot. We found it even 
more difficult to move forward than to keep our legs 
under us, though both required no small effort. 

The drenching rain, the night before, had turned 
the rich, black loam, of which the whole soil of the 
Delta is composed, into a kind of paste or glutinous 
mud, which was not only deep, but nearly as adhe- 
sive as pitch, and almost as shppery as glass. How- 
ever, bad as it really was, we succeeded, after making 
sundry slips and stumbles, in safely reaching our new 
boat. 

If our hopes and expectations had been raised a 
little too high by the flattering accounts given us of 
the boat and its " ample accommodations" by Mr. 
Schlillinger — they were, certainly, upon the first 
glimpse of what he, in his zealous friendship, " had 
been able to do for us," brought low enough to suit 
the most fastidious inculcators of self-denial and 
meekness in Christendom. Still, the effect of this 
disappointment, I am afraid, was far from being salu- 
tary upon our minds. 



276 



VEXATION. 



To find one's self humbugged, cheated, deceived, 
and villanously overreached, and still remain tran- 
quil, reconciled, and perfectly at ease, though it may 
be very amusing to some, requires the wisdom and 
discipline of a philosopher, or the dark dull influ- 
ences of the Mohammedan religion ; which teaches 
the faithful to declare, under all circumstances, 
though an assassin meet them with murder in his 
hand, that " it was so decreed," and that it is their 
duty tamely to submit to all sorts of imposition, pro- 
vided they see no way to ward oif impending danger, 
and no channel through which to pour forth their 
bitter revenge. But we, poor sinful mortals, claimed 
no credit for Moslem piety, or philosophical sageness 
and stoical tranquillity of mind. On the contrary, 
when we saw ourselves decoyed, as it were, on board 
one of the nastiest and most abominable looking 
things that I have ever seen afloat and dignified with 
the name of boat, although we could not help smil- 
ing, we were at least a little, a very little, vexed. 

The doctor thought it would be quite impossible to 
ascend the Nile in such a crazy thing, and the at- 
tempt scarcely appeared in a more favourable light in 
my eyes ; while my wife, if she were not in fact actu- 
ally indignant, I am sure her appearance indicated 
no small degree of disappointment. I thought I 
saw depicted in strong outline upon the doctors 
high intellectual brow these remarkable words : " all 
is vanity and vexation of spirit." 

The boat was a long, shabby, decayed structure, 
with one mast, and an enormously large and tattered 



NILE-BOAT AND FELLOW-PASSENGER. 277 

lateen sail ; all of a Pharionic age, if not, in fact, of 
the time of Joseph. Even had we been told that it 
was a fabric built from the fragments of Noah's ark, 
and put into its present form soon after the subsiding 
of the deluge, its venerable and decayed appearance 
would have gone far to strengthen, in our minds, the 
strong probability of the truth of the assertion. It 
w^as deeply laden with bales, boxes, bags, and barrels 
of merchandise. On the deck, in a heap of straw 
that resembled an antiquated hog's nest, squatted an 
old, gray-bearded Jew, with a few rags wrapped 
about him ; over which, at the moment we stepped 
on board, the Israelite was zealously poring, in or- 
der to rescue them from the vile possession of 
some of the numerous descendants of those plagues 
which the celebrated ancestor of the Hebrew created 
from the dust of Egypt, and with which he so cru- 
elly afflicted Pharaoh and his people. This Jew and 
ourselves were all the passengers that had " taken 
places" at the time, though the rais was no doubt in 
hopes to get a few more before we left the wharf. 

Circumstances did not indicate very strongly that 
" the boat was going up expressly on our account.'* 
However, when we went into our " large and ample 
cabin, with three separate rooms," as Mr. SchUlHnger 
informed us it contained, we found one of them to be 
a water-closet ; and another, so cramped in size, that 
the doctor could not possibly lie down in it at full 
length ; while all three of them were so abominably 
filthy, and so odoriferously perfumed, that it was ab- 
solutely necessary to seek relief from the horrors of 



278 HOSTILE DEMONSTRATIONS. 

the cabin, in the open air on deck. In returning 
from this exploring expedition, we reached the door, 
and found it beset and hemmed round by ten or 
twelve broad-shouldered, heavy Egyptian sailors, 
standing half-naked before it, with hands extended, 
demanding ^'huckshisli ! huchshish r These were the 
boat's crew, the sailors w^ith whom we were to make 
the voyage ; and so determined did they at first ap- 
pear in their uproarious demands, that it seemed we 
were to pay toll, or remain prisoners. 

I was in no humour to submit quietly to any fur- 
ther imposition ; and I found it necessary to take a 
stand against them at once. I accordingly raised 
my cane, and rushed out upon them with no friendly 
intention. I have not the least suspicion that I looked 
very amiable on that occasion, as I swung my cane 
about among them, threatening to break it over their 
heads if they did not leave us to the pleasant reflec- 
tions that naturally, under such circumstances, filled 
our minds. My phraseology, so far as w^ords were 
concerned, they did not fully comprehend ; though 
the " language of signs" and gesticulations, w^iich ac- 
companied my words, they did not mistake. The 
speedy manner in which they cleared out from the 
door and ran toward the fore part of the boat, spared 
me the trouble of striking, and themselves the pain 
of receiving the blow. The fact is, we had the 
weakness to give way to the impulses of the moment, 
and were in no mood to woo a panther or caress a 
bear. We scarcely knew what to do. Mr. Schlil- 
linger had taken our gold ; and " urgent business" had 



DEPARTURE. 279 

made it convenient for him to be invisible. Nobody 
could tell where he had gone. We had signed an 
agreement to go in that boat, and we were in a hurry 
to get up the river : not knowing for certainty that 
we could better ourselves, even should we conclude 
to sacrifice the piastres which we had already paid 
to Mr. Schlillinger, and open the negotiation anew 
with another rais. 

The prospect was as gloomy as the weather, and 
it began to rain. All our luggage was on board ; and 
we finally made up our minds to let it remain where 
it then was, and stay ourselves and take care of it 
In the mean time, the 7'ais, or captain of the boat, a 
gaunt, sharp-faced, robber- visaged fellow^, having come 
on board, we gave orders to get the boat under way. 
But Arabs are never ready. It was then near twelve 
o'clock ; still they must go out into the village and 
purchase bread. And when the men returned with 
the bread, two or three of the other sailors had gone 
on shore to take leave of their friends. These were 
sent for by a messenger, who loitered longer than 
those he went to seek. At last the rais was obliged 
to go himself in quest of his sailors ; whom, after 
much delay, he collected on board, and we pushed 
off into the stream. 

There was a light northerly wind at the time, 
which filled our ragged sail, and we glided along 
moderately up the river 



280 



VOYAGE ON THE NILE. 




Boats upon the Nile. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



Commencement of the Voyage on the JS'ile. — Unpleasant Com- 
pany. — High Wages and Sailors^ Dress. — Mile-hoats and 
their Rigging. — Fertility of the Delta. — Amrou^s De- 
scription of Egypt. — Rude Manner of cultivating the Soil, 

— Scenery on the Mile. — Real " Plagues of Egypt.^' — 
Perplexing State of .Affairs. — Council of War. — Coin- 
mencement of Hostilities. — Pitched Battle with the Bugs. 

— Unsatisfactory Result. 

Soon after we swung out into the stream, it began 
to rain again as copiously as ever ; and, from admir- 
ing the beautiful prospect without, we turned our at- 
tention to the charms within the cabin. We ordered 
Selim and the cook to sweep and brush out the cabin 
as well as they could, and to arrange our luggage so 
as to enable us to sit down upon it. There were 



UNPLEASANT COMPANY. 



281 



none of the drawing-room elegances and comforts 
about the cabin ; nor were we, though under cover, 
entirely removed from the annoyance of the drench- 
ing rain. A ragged awning was hung over the deck 
in front of the cabin, which extended round over the 
two side-windows, to ward off the piercing rays of 
the sun in clear, hot weather, but which now only 
served to make our wretched situation still more de- 
plorable. This awning conducted the water into the 
cabin, in streams, during the rain, and kept up a con- 
stant dripping between the showers. But we were 
glad to be off, at any rate ; and resolved to make the 
best of every thing. We knew that we had been hum- 
bugged by Mr. Firkins's ''particular friend," and we 
had suspicions that our valiant dragoman had receiv- 
ed his share of the spoils. The price, as we after- 
ward satisfactorily ascertained, should not have ex- 
ceeded one hundred and fifty piastres at most, for a 
good, sea- worthy boat, entirely disencumbered of mer- 
chandise and passengers. 

We had, however, fairly embarked, and expected 
to meet some, at least, of the vividly-described plagues 
and annoyances of Egypt ; which, if the stories of 
travellers are entitled to credence, all pilgrims on the 
Nile, for many centuries past, have been forced to 
encounter. 

The deck of our boat was overrunning with wa- 
ter, and sHppery with mud. The forward part of it 
was covered with dirty straw, filled with fleas, bugs, 
and other vermin, against which the old Hebrew 
waged war to extermination. 

Vol. I. — 36 



282 HIGH WAGES OF SAILORS. 

The crew consisted of ten large, well-built, ath- 
letic sailors, and a 7ms ; making eleven men in all. 
They wore no clothing except a loose frock each, 
which buttoned close round the neck, and came down 
a little below the knees. They furnished themselves, 
and received the enormous amount of about ten cents 
each per day ! The rais, having command of the 
craft, received almost twenty cents a day. The wa- 
ges of these men, for similar service in the United 
States, could not be less than fifteen dollars per 
month each, besides their board. In Egypt, allow- 
ing them to have constant employment at the above 
^^^^ prices, they would only receive about three dol- 
lars to three and a half per month, and find them- 
selves ! And that would be about twice the amount 
which they would be able to realize for their services 
were they to work on the land ! They all, however, 
appeared to be lazy ; and the rais, though more pirati- 
cal and ferocious in expression, and receiving nearly 
double the amount per diem paid to the others, seemed 
to possess scarcely more ambition or spirit than the 
rest. They all required a great deal of urging for- 
ward, and would make some excuse to go ashore at 
every old village on the river. 

Our sail, though hanging in shreds and tatters, was 
as immense as it was curious. It was cut in the 
form of a triangle, and stretched upon a spar of enor- 
mous length, which hung and turned upon a block 
fastened to die top of the mast. This block acted 
as a kind of pivot or hinge, upon which the sail 
and spar were easily shifted from side to side, as 



NILE-BOATS AND THEIR RIGGING. 283 

occasion might require. In reefing, or clewing up 
the sail, it was only necessary to lash the lower end 
of it as far as the block, connecting the yard with the 
top of the mast, when the other end could be brought 
down and fastened to the deck, acting somewhat like 
a country well-sweep — w^hen the other end of the 
sail could be tied up or arranged with the greatest 
facility. All the Nile-boats were rigged in a similar 
manner ; though most of them had two, and many 
of them three sheets each. In sailing, one end of the 
spar, which rests in the centre upon the top of the 
mast, as described above, is brought down and fast- 
ened to a ring for that purpose^ on the deck ; while 
the other end, extending upward at an angle of about 
forty-five degrees, carries out the other extremity of 
the canvass ; and the whole serves as a kind of back- 
bone, being the only support the sail has throughout 
its entire length. With a good breeze, these curi- 
ously-rigged boats skim over the yellow bosom of the 
Nile with the airy lightness of a feather. 

Having got under way, our excited feelings began 
to soften down a httle. We thought it was as well 
to submit patiently to what seemed to be our fate, 
and to console ourselves with the reflection, that 
" things without remedy, should be without regard." 
The wind, though light, was fair ; and, for several 
miles, the old crazy boat " floated sideways like a 
majestic duck." Before the breeze, we could crowd 
along with considerable facility. 

Soon after leaving Atfa, we passed a large brick 



284 FERTILITY OF THE DELTA. 

building, said to be an extensive cap manufactory, 
belonging to the Pacha. 

Advancing moderately up the Nile, we were struck 
with the exceeding depth, richness, and fertility of 
the soil. Judging from the accounts given by an- 
cient as well as modern travellers, of the productive- 
ness of Egypt, we were prepared to witness some- 
thing greatly exceeding in fertility any country that 
we had before visited. But the utmost stretch of our 
imaginations, and all our previous impressions in re- 
gard to it, fell very far short of the reality. The rich 
and lofty banks presented green fields of wavy grass 
and grain, stretching off, on either hand, in almost 
spontaneous luxuriance, farther than the eye could 
reach. Nothing can surpass the Delta of Egypt in 
point of richness and fertility ; and it is probably 
unequalled, in this respect, in any other part of the 
world. 

The soil, in some places, for twenty or thirty feet 
in depth, along the banks of the Nile, in the Delta, 
is a deposite of black loam, of the richest description, 
brought down by the river, in the long succession of 
its inundations, from the upper country. Some part 
of the glowing picture of Egypt, given by Amrou, 
the Saracen conqueror, to his master the Calif Omar, 
though drawn twelve hundred years ago, is true even 
at the present day. He said to Omar : " O com- 
mander of the faithful, Egypt* is a compound of 
black earth and green plants, between a pulverized 
mountain and a red sand. The distance from Syene 

• Gibbon's Decline and Fall, London 8vo edition, p. 913. 



AMROU'S DESCRIPTION OF EGYPT. 285 

to the sea is a month's journey for a horseman. 
Along the valley descends a river, on vs^hich the bles- 
sing of the Most High reposes, both in the evening 
and morning, and which rises and falls with the revo- 
lutions of the sun and moon. When the annual dis- 
pensations of Providence unlock the springs and 
fountains that nourish the earth, the Nile rolls his swel- 
ling and sounding waters through the realm of Egypt ; 
the fields are 'overspread by the salutary flood ; and 
the villages communicate with each other with their 
painted barks. The retreat of the inundation depos- 
ites a fertiUzing mud for the reception of the various 
seeds : the crowds of husbandmen who blacken the 
land may be compared to a swarm of industrious ants; 
and their native indolence is quickened by the lash 
of the task-master, and the promise of the flowers 
and fruits of a plentiful harvest is sure. Their hope 
is seldom deceived ; but the riches which they extract 
from the wheat, the barley, and the rice ; the legumes, 
the fruit-trees, and the cattle, are unequally shared 
between those who labour and those who possess. 
According to the vicissitudes of the seasons, the face 
of the country is adorned with a silver wave, a verdant 
emerald, and the deep yellow of a golden harvest." 

" What wonder, in the sultry climes that spread 
Where Nile, redundant o'er its summer bed, 
From his broad bosom life and verdure flings, 
And broods o'er Egypt with its wat'ry wings ; 
If with advent'rous oar, and ready sail, 
The dusky people drive before the gale . 
Or on frail floats to neighbouring cities ride, 
That rise and glitter o'er the ambient tide !"* 

* Mason's Gray, p. 199, 200. 



286 INUNDATION OF THE NILE. 




Inundation or the Nile. 

The whole of the Delta is annually overflowed 
during the inundation of the Nile, and greatly en- 
riched by the fertilizing deposite which remains upon 
the soil after the water has subsided ; so that it is 
productive beyond any other country in the know^n 
world : though cultivation can scarcely be conducted 
in a more rude and primitive manner than that pur- 
sued by the natives. Indeed, little more seems ab- 
solutely necessary to ensure a crop, after the inunda- 
tion has subsided, than to scatter the seed upon the 
ground, and turn a flock of sheep or goats on to tread 
it in ; and then, in the course of a very short time, to 
gather the harvest, which is brought to maturity in 
that rich soil and genial climate with almost incredi- 
ble rapidity. 

In our progress, we passed, at short intervals, vil- 
lages of mud-walled cottages and farm-houses, sur- 
rounded with groves of palm and date trees, inhabited 
by the most wretched beings that I have ever seen out 
of the British dominions. Their dwellings, though 
well enough looking when seen at a favourable dis- 
tance, appeared to be, when approached, mere dens, 



EGYPTIANS DRIVING GOATS. 



287 




288 SCENERY ON THE NILE. 

without chimneys, windows, or doors. They are as 
cheerless as the floorless, mud-built hovels of the Irish 
and Scotch peasantry. 

Many of the inhabitants, naturally filthy and dis- 
gusting in their habits, were half-naked, and some of 
them appeared without any clothes at all. Their 
religion, fortunately, imposes the necessity of wash- 
ing before prayers, which all the faithful are scru- 
pulously exact in doing ; otherwise, the people are so 
indolent, that they would fairly rot alive in their own 
dirt, even with the Nile at theii feet. 

The scene before us was every way novel, pecu- 
liar, and interesting. Although our first day up- 
on the Nile was rainy and disagreeably cold, which 
necessarily compelled us to keep within our little 
stived-up prison of a cabin most of the time — yet, 
after the first shock, we did not regard the numerous 
bugs and other creeping plagues with which our new 
quarters were infested, further than to brush them off 
as they fell down upon us from the ceiling, or crawled 
up from the floor. 

When the shades of evening, however, closed 
around us, our real troubles commenced. A scene 
indescribably stirring was now opened to our aston- 
ished gaze. Where only here and there an insect 
was discoverable through the day, thousands and tens 
of thousands made their appearance as soon as we 
struck a light : blackening the walls and ceiling of 
the cabin, and pouring down upon us in a regular 
shower. 

These were no " humbugs." They were all genu- 



REAL '■' PLAGUES OF EGITT." 289 

ine black, thorough-going, winged bugs, of various 
sizes, actively bent upon doing us all the mischief 
that lay in their power. They were every where, 
on all sides, turn which way we would ; look up or 
down, before or behind, on the right hand or on 
the left, there was nothing but bugs, bugs, bugs ! 
They were not of the diffident or unsocial kind ei- 
ther. They made themselves as familiar with us as 
though we had been old acquaintances. 

Like the frogs* of Moses, which came up into the 
houses and bed-chambers of the Egyptians, into their 
ovens, and into their kneading-troughs ; that covered 
the land, and came both upon Pharaoh and his ser- 
vants, and upon all his people, — so those legions 
of tormenting bugs came upon us, covering our backs, 
legs, arms, necks, hands, and faces ; crawling delib- 
erately into our bosoms ; entering into our pockets ; 
rmming down the back of our necks, and rummaging 
over our persons and effects with all the vile vigilance 
of the London custom-house officers examining a 
Swiss jeweller. At last our case became desperate. 
We could endure it no longer. We rose with a de- 
termination to do something ; but what, we scarcely 
knew. It was a new and a strange enemy ; so bold 
and daring in attack, and pressing the siege in so per- 
tinacious and determined a style, that we were really 
more amazed than indignant. At first, we sought to 
cover ourselves from their assault, rather than come 
to a pitched battle at once, and manfully abide the 
issue. But the attack was led on and kept up with 

* Exodus viii. 3, 4. 

Vol. L— 37 



290 PERPLEXING DILEMMA. 

such vigour, that even the lamb-like members of the 
" New England Non-resistance Society," had they 
been placed in similar circumstances with ourselves, 
would have been justified before the world, and 
heaven too, in girding up their loins, buckling on the 
armour of war, and taking the field. Nor do I think 
that they would have been much more wilHng, when 
attacked on the one cheek, to have turned the other 
to the assault of those vile insects, than we were. 
I would not, however, wish to be understood as 
laying any claims whatever to the well-earned and 
stern virtues of that enlightened association, which 
has declared itself absolved from all responsibility to 
every other community under heaven, and openly at 
war and rebellion (though with spiritual weapons) 
against all the established organizations of society in 
every part of the known world.* But however con- 
trary to the mild and heaven-taught spirit that pro- 
fessedly pervades the virtuous bosoms of the " New 
England Non-resistance Society," and however shock- 
ing it may appear to the calm, pure, and spotless be- 
nignity of all its members, individually or collectively, 
who have beaten their swords into ploughshares, and 
their spears into pruning-hooks, and who, alas ! T ap- 
prehend, are so far " ahead of the age" as to have come 
into this wicked world a little before their time, — 
we, after holding a deliberate council of war, resolved 
upon a pitched battle ! 

Having decided upon war, and having resolved to 
rescue our rightful possessions from the enemy, we 

• Vide " Principles of the Non-resistance Society," Boston, 1839. 



HOSTILITIES DECIDED UPON. 291 

had next to decide upon the best mode of attack, and 
the weapons to be used in the onset. We found our- 
selves in a dilemma scarcely less embarrassing than 
that of the " great powers" during the first year and 
a half of their skilful diplomacy in reference to the 
" pacification of eastern affairs," when they resolved 
unanimously and most rehgiously upon making the 
" old blood-thirsty tyrant" (to use a complimentary 
English epithet) give up the Turkish fleet, and evac- 
uate Syria; but, amid their jars and jealousies, una- 
ble to decide what compulsory measures should be 
adopted, and by wdiom the delightful and honourable 
task of destroying the large towns on the Syrian 
coast, and burying unoffending citizens beneath their 
ruins, should be performed, the black league remained 
in doubt, disagreed and disgraced, for eighteen months 
— and much, no ddubt, to the detriment of civiliza- 
tion. Thus he, who, according to the sedulously in- 
culcated doctrines of the Roman Catholic and Eng- 
lish churches, and the cherished principles of Euro- 
pean nobles, was born and destined by heaven to 
rule, tyrannize, and reign over the entire empire of 
Turkey — the miserable, drivelling, sensual boy, al- 
ready decayed and declining under the excess of dis- 
sipation and disease ; the Grand Seignior ! his Se- 
rene Highness the Grand Sultan of Turkey, re- 
mained shut out from his legitimate and rightful pos- 
sessions, decreed him by heaven ; while the " old 
blood-thirsty Pacha," who, according to the same re- 
ligious creed and wise doctrine, has his power di- 
rect from his Satanic Majesty, kept in his hands the 



292 PERPLEXING SITUATION. 

thundering guns of the Turkish fleet, and stood upon 
the Holy Land with drawn sword, airajed against 
heaven, the black league of Europe, and the Sublime 
Porte ! 

Our situation, previously to entering upon w^arlike 
operations against the bugs, was nearly as perplexing 
as that of the " great powers," and nearly as ridicu- 
lous ; though I am wiUing to admit that we fell infi- 
nitely below them in the ''sublimey 

The doctor is rather a peaceable man in principle, 
though I am not aware of his being a member of any 
of those effective and highly useful associations in 
the United States, denominated *' Peace Societies ;" 
whose intelligent and enlightened members declare, 
and very satisfactorily maintain, that the revolu- 
tion which our wicked predecessors got up against 
the mother country, by which we were rescued from 
the clutches of a European tyrant, was an offence 
against heaven, and a great moral wrong : and con- 
sequently, I suppose, that George Washington, the 
leader of that (in their estimation) unhallowed rabble, 
and who has hitherto been thought entitled to the 
respect, and even the gratitude of his countrymen, 
was, after all, instead of that pure patriot and honest 
Christian which all the world are willing to acknowl- 
edge him, a very bad man, and did the wicked people 
of the United States a great deal of moral mischief ! 

I think our worthy friend the doctor did not belong 
to any of those enlightened associations ; nor have T 
the least suspicion that his notions, on the score of 
peace, were as praiseworthy as the radical purity and 



CRITICAL STATE OF AFFAIRS. 293 

metaphysical abstractions of ^ny of the members of 
those societies ; yet he was evidently so far an advo- 
cate of pacific measures, as to throw pretty much the 
whole burden of warlike operations upon my shoul- 
ders. Like Goldsmith's giant, he failed not to carry 
off a good share of the honours and advantages of 
war ; while I, like the unfortunate dwarf, who was 
so sadly handled in their united enterprises, came in 
for more than a full share of the fighting and danger. 

One or two suggestions relative to the most advi- 
sable mode of attack were thrown out, but they were 
so mild and ineffective in their character, that they 
were scarcely taken into serious consideration. I 
was perplexed, and did not know what to do. The 
enemy, however, was momentarily augmenting his 
forces upon the walls, assuming a more formidable 
appearance ; and, if that were possible, taking a more 
impregnable stand, and strengthening his position in 
every way. 

Our situation was evidently becoming more and 
more critical every instant. Still we remained un- 
decided as to the details of our future course. 

In the midst of this doubt and embarrassment, we 
luckily hit upon the idea of calling to our aid the 
cook and our valiant dragoman, in order to take their 
advice upon a subject which, though it may appear 
trifling to persons indulging in the luxury of their 
elegantly-furnished houses, richly-carpeted chambers, 
and beds of down, five or six thousand miles from 
that perplexing scene, was nevertheless important to 



294 ADVICE OF THE DRAGOMAN. 

US ; and miicli of our future happiness or misery de- 
pended upon the final result. 

Selim, as usual, was for violent and noisy meas- 
ures. He was positive that a corbash w^ould be the 
best w^eapon that could be used. Like the " patent 
medicine" venders of modern times, it is true, he had 
only one prescription for all cases ; but then that had 
the pecuhar merit of being an " infallible and sove- 
reign remedy" for every thing. He had always found 
the corbash most potent in all his assaults upon beg- 
gars and mule-drivers ; and even in the graveyard at 
Alexandria, he had used it to the greatest possible 
advantage. He was now ambitious to add new lau- 
rels to his brow, by leading on the attack upon the 
bugs, corbash in hand ! I was still undecided. I 
had already ample evidence of Selim's valour, and 
considered him every way worthy and competent to 
take the lead in a warfare of that kind. He had my 
full confidence, so far as real valour and courage were 
concerned ; but, knowing " that the race is not always 
to the swift, nor the battle to the strong," and feeling 
some doubts as to the effect of the corhasli on all 
occasions, however powerful it may be on some, I 
turned to our Arabian cook, and gravely asked his 
opinion about the best mode of attacking the com- 
mon enemy. 

The cook replied without hesitation, and said — 
''Hot loater and a ladle were the only weapons that 
could be brought to bear upon them with the least 
possible hope of victory." He promised, if we would 
allow him to take the lead instead of Selim. he 



AMBITIOUS RIVALRY. ' 295 

would obtain a complete and decisive victory over 
the enemy, and drive him quite beyond the precincts 
of our possessions. 

This, though highly encouraging, was no more 
than Selim had already assured us he could do in an 
incredibly short space of time. Instead, therefore, 
of finding any relief by consulting the cook, we 
actually felt more embarrassed than ever. We had 
no great faith in the proposed weapons of either ; 
and now, for the first time, we discovered that there 
was an ambitious spirit of rivalry kindling in their 
bosoms, which might result in no trifling inconve- 
nience in the present vexatious position of affairs. 
We felt the importance of allaying all the improper 
and ambitious desires to supersede Sehm in the com- 
mand, that might haunt the imagination of the cook ; 
but at the same time, in order to ensure a harmonious 
co-operation of the parties in some energetic and 
well-digested warlike operations against our enemies, 
it was necessary to conciliate the feelings of the 
knight of the spit and ladle, by at least taking his prop- 
osition into consideration, and comparing its relative 
merits with the bold scheme of Selim. After some 
little discussion and deliberation, we resolved to adopt 
neither, and proposed a sort of compromise, if it may 
be so termed. Instead of the corbash proposed by 
Selim, and the boiling water and ladle insisted upon 
by the cook, the doctor thought a broom was far 
preferable ; and the adoption of this weapon was 
cheerfully assented to on all sides. 

It was, however, unanimously agreed that Selim 



296 



A BATTLE AND ITS RESULTS. 



should have the command ; and he at once proceeded 
to lead up his forces, and commenced the attack with 
bravery and vrarhke vigour. The onset, however, 
was conducted in such a disorderly and unsoldierlike 
style, that, although it was uproarious and ferociously 
savage, yet the advantages gained produced compara- 
tively trifling results. 

The enemy w^as driven from the walls, and obhged 
to seek shelter from the furious pursuit of our troops ; 
but it was only to come into the field again with 
greatly increased numbers, and. every way better 
prepared for a second campaign. 




Richard Third. 

A thousand hearts are great within my bosom ; 
Advance our standards ! set upon our foes I" 



RECOMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES. 297 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Recommencement of Hostilities. — Selim supplanted in Com^ 
mand by the Cook. — Weapons and Mode of Attack. — San- 
guinary Engagement with the Bugs. — Annihilation of our 
Assailants. — Renewed Demonstrations of War. — Another 
Battle. — Retreat from the Field. — " Military Glory. '^ — 
Repose. 

Our valiant troops returned exulting from the field 
of battle, and boasted of having overthrown the ene- 
my and gained a decisive victory. Yet, when an 
account was taken of the dead and wounded, it was 
astonishing how small a number of the confused, 
black, and disorderly hosts, which had provoked the 
war, and kindled up the martial spirit of the drago- 
man and cook, were left upon the field. Indeed, the 
warriors were no less surprised at it than ourselves : 
they were evidently so disappointed that they could 
hardly believe their own eyes. Both of the veterans, 
however, attributed the trifling carnage that ensued, 
to the mode of attack, and the imperfect nature of the 
weapons. They were liberal in their condemnation 
of such unwieldy implements in an assault upon an 
enemy so diminutive ; and certain that, had their fa- 
vourite plans been adopted, the result would have 
been far more destructive to the foe. 

Vol. I.-— 38 



298 COMMAND GIVEN TO THE COOK. 

The evening was wearing away, and so far, little 
had been done. The enemy, already recovered from 
the noise and shock of the dragoman's wrath, again 
began to make his appearance in greatly augmented 
numbers. He was rapidly concentrating his forces, 
and taking 4ip a strong position in more fe#fal 
array than before. Like the Goths and Vandals of 
old, who desolated Rome, the hateful foe blackened 
every prospect with his numerous hosts. Our po- 
sition was becoming more and more critical every 
moment. No time was to be lost ; and we confided 
the command of the second campaign to the cook. 
This circumstance could hardly have any other than 
an inflating effect upon the ambitious feeling of the 
knight of the spit ; who, in proportion to the mortifi- 
cation of the despairing dragoman, elevated himself 
into a delightful ecstasy of vain reflections. He 
urged, with the most sanguine hopes and evident sin- 
cerity, the importance of renewing hostilities with the 
least possible delay ; and gravely declared it as his 
deUberate opinion, that no weapons could be brought 
to bear upon the enemy with hal^ the effect of that 
of hot water. He proposed to deluge the whole cab- 
in, from top to bottom, throughout all its innumerable 
cracks, crevices, holes, nooks, and corners : literally 
boihng it out, as it were, and simmering it over the 
fire. 

He insisted that destruction to the enemy under 
that process, however formidable in point of numbers 
or position, was inevitable ; and that they must suc- 
cumb to his superior inteUigence. He promised a 



WEAPONS AND MODE OF ATTACK. 299 

complete triumph over om* tormentors, and as deso- 
lating a ruin as the troops of Pharaoh met with in 
the Red Sea. 

The trifling inconvenience, however, of having a.l 
our luggage drenched with water, and of being turned 
outj during the process, to buffet the severity of the 
storm on deck, opened our eyes to all the evils which 
were likely to attend the cook's favourite scheme ; 
though it was quite evident that the enemy must 
thereby meet a signal defeat, if not in fact total de- 
struction. 

Upon a more deliberate consideration of all the 
circumstances, we were obliged to reject the plan in 
part. It was therefore proposed, instead of the inun- 
dation which the valiant cook wanted to let off upon 
the enemy (somewhat as the Dutch overwhelmed the 
French at the time of the invasion of Holland by 
Louis XIV.), that, armed with basins full of boiling 
water, and Hghted torches, the forces should be drawn 
up for a powerful attack upon the enemy's centre. 

This mode of operation was at once adopted, and 
ground was immediately broken. It was wisely de- 
termined to commence the engagement with as little 
noise as possible, in order not to frighten the invaders 
fi'om the walls by an unnecessary din of arms, with- 
out cutting off his retreat, or in fact without doing 
him any material injury, as had been the result of the 
first attack. Our mode of warfare rendered it neces- 
sary to approach the foe under a strong blaze of light ; 
but that, so far from frightening him, and warning him 
of his danger, had been the principal attraction that 



300 SANGUINARY CONTEST. 

had tempted the present assault upon us. It was 
easy, therefore, to advance upon the foe, and to carry 
fire and destruction into the centre of his camp. This 
occasioned not the least disturbance among his ranks, 
until they fell before our blazing weapons, tumbled 
from the walls, and met a horrid death in the boiling 
bath that lay beneath. As the centre of their nu- 
merous host was cut to pieces, it was filled by the 
reserves which had taken positions on the right and 
left, in the rear of the main army ; and were drawn 
to the vortex of destruction by the constant fire of our 
wasting implements, and soon plunged into the same 
irretrievable ruin that had swallowed up their " illus- 
trious predecessors." 

Thus an incredibly short space of time was suffi- 
cient to annihilate thousands of their troops ; and the 
brave cook had the gratification, after throwing out 
heaps upon heaps of their dead bodies into the Nile, 
to rest from his labours, and repose under the shade 
of his laurels. At first, it seemed to be a complete 
victory ; and, as we were too easily encouraged to be- 
lieve, a total annihilation of the entire army. But in 
these pleasing reflections we found ourselves disap- 
pointed. We had hardly decided on the programme 
of the triumph which was to be given to the cook 
in honour of his glorious victory, when — no less to 
our surprise, perhaps, than the " Congress of Vienna" 
were seized with, when, to their horror, they re- 
ceived the unwelcome news that Napoleon had es- 
caped from the island of Elba, and again ascended 
the throne of France, — we discovered the ever ac- 



THE ENEMY RALLIES. 301 

tive and apparently exhaustless foe again hurrying 
his numerous recruits into the field ! Already he had 
assembled his cohorts in formidable squares and dense 
columns along the Hues ; and the black hosts that 
brought up the rear in the distance, indicated but too 
clearly the legions with which we had still to contend. 
The proud crest of the valorous knight of the frying- 
pan evidently drooped, and his countenance collapsed. 
His expressive mouth was pressed up into the shape 
of the ominous and black capital letter O ! He put 
the fore finger of his left hand to his lips, and for the 
space of five or six minutes, was absorbed in all the 
deep revery of the most profound meditation. He 
uttered not a word, and looked almost as deploringly 
as the dragoman. We were equally silent for the 
same space of time ; and anxiously " watched the 
mountain." 

At length, greatly to our relief, we had the gratifi- 
cation to see the rigid expression of the cook's sal- 
low face relax from that despairing cast of visage 
which had stamped it with such a gloom. As we 
still continued to gaze upon the softening features of 
his countenance, it gradually brightened, until it was 
lighted up into a happy smile : and striking his fore- 
head at the same time with his right hand, he said, in 
an elevated tone of voice, " I told you so ; I knew 
such would be the result. Unless the whole premi- 
ses be thoroughly drenched and inundated with boil- 
ing water, there is no such thing as ejecting this in- 
fernal enemy from our dominions." 

He put himself upon a high horse ; threw all the 



302 ANOTHER BATTLE. 

blame and responsibility of the partial failure in the 
war of extermination upon the doctor and myself; 
determined to bear no part of the disgrace (if so the 
late conquest might be termed) ; and took a stand as 
confident in his own abiUty now as ever, that, should 
we accede to his proposition, and allow him to adopt 
his own mode of carrying on the war, nothing was 
easier than to annihilate the entire race of our as- 
sailants at a blow. There was too much probability 
in the cook's remarks to be flatly contradicted ; be- 
sides, much of what he said had already become mat- 
ter of history. Consepuently, the doctor and I could 
make no reply. 

Under almost any other circumstances, I am sure 
the persuasive powers of the cook would have car- 
ried all before him ; but the same reasons that dis- 
suaded us from adopting his plan in the first instance, 
sustained us firm and immoveable in our resolution 
now. We gave him to understand, once for all, that 
to think of inundating the cabin with boihng water, 
so long as the storm without prevented us from 
moving our luggage to the deck, was quite out of the 
question ; and we directed him to draw up his forces 
again before the enemy, and recommence hostilities 
— showing no quarter to age, sex, or rank. 

The cook bowed assent ; and immediately com- 
menced a furious onslaught upon the thickest squares 
and most dense columns of the gathering foe, carry- 
ing confusion, death, and^tiestruction to the very cen- 
tre of his " squares, his crescents, and his phalanx 
firm." 



DEFEAT OF THE ENEIVIY. 303 

The carnage was awful. The smitten ranks and 
dying legions that fell before the arms of the chiv- 
alric knight of the caldron, and the horror of the 
scene, exceed all my descriptive powers, and make 
my flesh crawl upon my bones when I think of it, 
even to this very day. It was a regular Waterloo 
slaughter. The number of nohle bug- families that 
were put in mourning by the bloody fight waged by 
our relentless champion, has never been satisfactorily 
ascertained. It must have been immense ; scarcely 
less, probably, than that which the sanguinary car- 
nage of the French put in sombre weeds on that 
memorable occasion which bound Napoleon like Pro- 
metheus to a rock, with a vulture at his heart, and 
raised the Duke of Wellington to 

" A station like the herald Mercury, 
New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill." 

The enemy was driven back, routed, and cut to 
pieces in every direction. He was apparently over- 
thrown and destroyed ; and our victorious troops 
again returned from the field, " covered with glory." 
Our dominions being once more happily swept of the 
abominable presence of the assailants ; and we and 
our valorous warriors, being greatly exhausted with 
the distressing fatigues of the day, sought the con- 
solations of repose. But, before we had fairly ar- 
ranged our beds, again, to our amazement, the enemy 
was seen concentrating his forces, and hanging out 
his banners upon the walls ! Again the cook, with 
fire and water in each hand, and wrath kindled in 
each eye, rushed forward to the fight ; and, although 



304 DESPAIR OF THE VICTORS. 

exhausted and battle-stained by the two late cam- 
paigns, he nevertheless acquitted himself in the 
bravest and most gallant style, driving the foe before 
him on all sides. 

Returning once more victorious from the toils and 
dangers of war, the vaUant knight was anxious to 
lean upon his weapons, and seek repose in the calm 
sunshine of peace. But alas ! again he was called 
to share anew the perils of mortal combat ; again the 
enemy had recruited and equipped a new army, and 
was hastening forward to take up the old position 
from which he had been so often driven and with 
such signal losses. Poor knight ! long and tedious 
were thy duties in the field. Like other eminent 
commanders who have earned their fame in the san- 
guinary and destructive fight, thou too hast had thy 
hands deeply imbued in the work of death, and sent 
thousands into eternity, whose dying maledictions 
may tarnish the decorations that glitter upon thy 
breast, and wither the green leaf of victory upon thy 
warrior brow ! 

To be serious : the innumerable insects that poured 
in upon us in such dense and blackening crowds, 
seemed rather to increase in numbers than diminish, 
as the work of destruction proceeded. For, although 
we destroyed host after host as fast as they made 
their appearance upon the ceiling and walls, yet 
they continued to come forward in such fearful 
swarms, regardless of the fate of those that had been 
already destroyed, that it was really a hopeless case. 
We gave over the idea, at last, of being able to com- 



SHELTER AND REPOSE. 



305 



plete their ruin ; and endeavoured to shelter ourselves 
as well as we could from their approach. This we 
were enabled to do to some effect, by suspending a 
sheet over our bed, attached at each corner by nails 
driven upward into the ceiling. From this canopy 
we hung other sheets on three sides of the bed, which 
so far sheltered us that w^e passed the remainder of 
the night in comparative quietness. 




Repose after Battle. 



Vol. 1.— 39 



306 



CLIMATE OF EGYPT. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Climate^ and Kamsin Winds of Egypt. — Effects of Habit. — 
Mode of sailing on the JYile. — Rambles 07i Shore. — Shy- 
ness of the Egyptians. — Volunteers. — Military Conscrip- 
tion. — Press-gang. — Appropriation of the Spoils. — Dis- 
advantages of being mistaken. — Effects of Tyranny and 
Oppression. — Injustice of Tax-gatherers. — Arab Dwel- 
lings. — Story of an aged Egyptian. 

With the dawn, our eyes opened the next morn- 
ing upon a clear sky. It had ceased to rain ; the 
clouds had cleared away, and the south wind whis- 
tled over the plains like the sharp blasts of March in 
a northern clime. It was none of that scorching, 
unendurable heat that some travellers have described 
as almost always prevailing in Egypt. On the con- 
trary, it was sufficiently cold to render our great- 
coats no unwelcome appendages through the day, 
even in the long walks in which we indulged upon 
the high banks of the Nile. 

The Egyptians, however, suffered little or no in- 
convenience from the keenness of the atmosphere, 
though they generally wear but very little clothing ; 
nor did I notice any additional garments used by our 
sailors on that occasion, nor by the villagers that we 
saw in our progress up the stream. 



EFFECTS OF HABIT. 307 

Habit effects wonders with any people in any cli- 
mate. The Egyptians, used from earhest infancy to 
a very slight covering of clothes, indeed, in frequent 
instances, to almost none at all, little feel the necessi- 
ty of those warm flannels and fur-garnished wrap- 
pers which are deemed so essential, if not almost in- 
dispensable, to the comfort of Europeans ; though 
furs and very warm clothing are sometimes worn by 
the more opulent part of the inhabitants in Cairo and 
Alexandria. They do not, however, appear more 
healthy on that account ; and, from the fact of their 
wrapping themselves up in furs on very warm days, 
as well as when there may be some slight chilliness 
in the air, I concluded that it was more for show and 
effect than comfort. "As for our merchants," says 
Volney, in his Travels in Egypt, " their sensibility is 
owing to their improper use of furs, which is carried 
30 far, that in winter they have frequently two or 
three coverings of foxes-skin ; and even in summer, 
retain the ermine or petit gris. In excuse for this, 
they plead the chilliness they experience in the 
shade, as an indispensable reason But the se- 
cret and real reason is, that the pelisse is to be con- 
sidered the lace of Turkey, the favourite object of 
luxury ; it is the sign of opulence, and the etiquette 
of dignity ; for the investiture of important offices is 
always accompanied with the present of a pelisse, as 
if they were to say of him to whom they give it, He 
is now arrived at so great an eminence, he need con- 
cern himself with nothing, but perspire at his ease."* 

* Volney's Travels through Syria and Egypt, i. 42. 



308 ^ KAMSIN WINDS. 

The climate of Egypt we had found thus far very 
different from the descriptions usually given of it. 
Yet frost is rarely or never seen in any part of the 
country ; never, certainly, in Upper Egypt, and rain 
is of very rare occurrence above Cairo. 

There was a stiff breeze blowing down the Nile 
all day; and what appeared to us as being pecuhar 
was, that the south winds of Egypt, though hot, re- 
laxing, and disagreeable in the extreme, during the 
• warm season, are nevertheless, in the winter, the cold- 
est and most bracing winds that blow. The north 
wind, which prevails in Egypt for nine months in 
the year, is never so cold as the south wind during 
the winter months. The winds generally blow up 
or down the Nile, throughout the year ; and an east 
or west wind is said to be of exceedingly rare oc- 
currence. 

The most fearful and distressing wind, is the 
hot wind, or kamsin. " When these winds begin 
to blow, the atmosphere assumes an alarming as- 
pect. The sky, at other times so clear in this cli- 
mate, becomes dark and heavy ; the sun loses his 
splendour, and appears of a violet colour. The air 
is not cloudy, but gray and thick, and is in fact filled 
with an extremely subtile dust, which penetrates eve- 
ry where. This wind, always light and rapid, is not 
at first remarkably hot, but it increases in heat in pro- 
portion as it continues. All animated bodies soon 
discover it, by the change it produces in them. The 
lungs, which a too rarified air no longer expands, are 
contracted, and become painful. Respiration is short 



KAMSIN WINDS. 



309 



and difficult, the skin parched and dry, and the body 
is consumed by an internal heat. Recourse is had in 
vain to large draughts of water ; nothing can restore 
respiration. In vain is coolness sought for ; all bodies 
in which it is usual to find it, deceive the hand that 
touches them. Marble, iron, water, notwithstanding 
the sun no longer appears, are hot. The streets are 
deserted, and the dead silence of night reigns every 
where. The inhabitants of towns and villages shut 
themselves up in their houses, and those of the desert 




Travellers overtaken by the Kamsin. 

m their tents, or in wells dug in the earth, where they 
wait the termination of this destructive heat 



310 RAMBLE ON SHORE. 

Wo to the traveller whom this wind surprises remote 
from shelter ; for he must suffer all its horrible effects, 
which sometimes are mortal. The danger is most 
imminent when it blows in squalls, for then the rapid- 
ity of the wind increases the heat to such a degree, 
as to cause sudden death."* 

When the winds are unfavourable to the use of 
sails in ascending the Nile, the sailors get out upon 
the banks of the river and tow the boat along at a 
snail's pace, by means of a rope attached to the top 
of the mast. The wind from the south being di- 
rectly in our teeth all day, made this mode of sailing 
rather monotonous and slow. It was necessarily 
adopted, however, as being the only means by which 
we were enabled to make the least progress on the 
voyage. 

Availing ourselves of the opportunity thus afforded 
for a little exercise, we got out of the boat when it 
was run ashore to land the men, and rambled along 
the banks of the river ^for many miles. We walked 
much faster than the men could tow the boat, and 
doubling a long bend in the river, we soon lost sight 
of it. 

In passing through the streets of sqme of the nu- 
merous mud-walled villages that skirt the borders of 
the Nile, we were struck with the shyness and timid- 
ity evinced by the inhabitants <it our approach. The 
small children viewed us with amazement ; and the 
men, with the exception of some wdio were very aged, 
were seen stealing glances at us from behind the dark 

• Volney's Travels, vol. i. p. 37. 



PRESS-GANG. 311 

corners of their rude dwellings. When they ob- 
served that they had attracted our attention, they 
dodged back, as if fearful of being caught, and sought 
greater security in their hiding-places. The women, 
however, were much less timid than the men ; ex- 
cept, perhaps, the younger females, who made their 
escape with great precipitation whenever w^e, una- 
wares to them, accidentally crossed their path. 

During the whole day, I have no recollection of 
seeing a boy who might be over six or eight years 
old ; and these were invariably deformed or maimed 
— having had one eye extinguished, or the fore finger 
of the right hand cut off, or the front teeth knocked 
out, by the hand of maternal affection and kindness. 
A lad between the ages of ten and sixteen years, blind, 
lame, or fingerless, or indeed of any description what- 
ever, was not visible to us in any one of the many 
villages that w^e entered during our peregrinations ; 
they being, if any existed, (of which, among a popu- 
lation so numerous, there can be little doubt,) all se- 
creted, as we w^ere informed, for fear of being pressed 
into the army. 

For a long time past, the following has been the 
usual mode of raising native troops in Egypt. Re- 
cruiting officers are sent out through the towns and 
villages, to make as short work as possible of what, 
in some countries, has been found rather a protracted 
business, and seize upon all the boys they can lay 
their hands on, and march them off to the garrisons 
and military depots. Being once in the hands of the 
miUtary officers, they are immediately put in rapid 



312 MERITS OF THE PRESS-GANG. 

training for service. Sometimes these juvenile vol- 
unteers, thus collected in the upper country, receive, 
on entering the service, a hounty of a pair of hand- 
cuffs, and are seen on their way to the " tented field,'* 
huddled together in large numbers, on board of trans- 
ports descending the Nile, with iron rings round their 
necks, fastened to long and heavy poles. In this man- 
ner, their humane and hrave commanders commence 
the drill ; and they are formed into rather rigid pla- 
toons in the very outset of their military career. 

This mode of recruiting an army by volunteers^ 
would not be in exact accordance with the rude, un- 
cultivated, and bad taste of the inhabitants of that de- 
plorable part of the world slightly known abroad by 
the name of the United States of America ; though 
in " British America," and in all other parts of the 
English territory, its merits and advantages are fully 
appreciated, I dare say ; and the right of her Majes- 
ty's government to man British ships-of-war, and fill 
the ranks of the army, by the just and equitable means 
of the " press-gang act," is still loyally acknowledged. 
In case of necessity, it would doubtless be as wil- 
lingly submitted to at the present day by all her Ma- 
jesty's devoted subjects, as it was during any part of 
the bright and luminous periods of England's glorious 
struggles with the naughty and refractory Yankees. 
Indeed, I am disinclined to accord to England the 
sole merit of adopting this virtuous, enlightened, and 
humane policy ; for it seems to be that upon which 
nearly all the " Great Powers" of Europe rigidly prac- 
tise, in keeping up the numerous and mercenary 



MILITARY CONSCRIPTION. 313 

armies that overshadow every kingdom of the old 
world. 

The Pacha of Egypt, with his twenty, thirty, or 
fifty thousand troops, thus snatched away from their 
homes and pressed into the army, to be shot down at 
some future day, is, after all that has been or may be 
said about his " blood-thirsty tyranny," but a " mere 
circumstance" in the " press-gang" business, when 
contrasted with the wholesale manner in which those 
operations are conducted by the " Great Powers." 
With them it is a gigantic monopoly, fearfully threat- 
ening to the whole earth ; and it is no surprising 
thing now-a-days, in this enlightened period of the 
world, notwithstanding the salutary impressions and 
powerful incentives to tranquillity already made by 
the " New England Non-resistance Society" upon the 
turbulent spirit of the universe — I say it is no matter 
of surprise to one passing through the kingdoms of 
Europe, to witness armies of many hundred thousands, 
laced up in strait coats, with fancy facings, loaded 
dow^n with guns, beds, tin cUps, and bottles, idling 
their time away for the enormous salary of five or six 
cents a day each, under the command of some super- 
cilious sprig of nobility ; while the nations at large 
groan under a weight of taxation almost insupporta- 
ble, in order to keep up the military establishments 
and the splendour of the courts. 

We were informed that the recruiting officers of 
Egypt, in their official rambles through the villages, 
were accustomed, not only to kidnap, bind, handcuff, 
and carry off all the decent-looking boys they could 

Vol. L— 40 



314 DISADVANTAGE OF BEING MISTAKEN. 

find, but the " clever-looking girls" came in for a 
share of their attention ; and were sometimes hurried 
off too, in the same summary manner, to keep their 
brothers company, perhaps, or. for other purposes, 
doubtless well known to their gallant captors. Be- 
sides the fair sex and the sprightly lads, for which 
these " officials" have evinced rather a threatening 
fondness, it was reported to us that they had in- 
dulged rather lavishly in a propensity for sheep, chick- 
ens, eggs, milk, bread, and vi^hatever else happened to 
fall in their way, in the course of their " searching op- 
erations." They do not hesitate to carry all these 
things to their account — forgetting, at the same time, 
to pass the amount to the credit of the owners, or in 
fact without making them the least return whatever. 

Being mistaken, as our valiant dragoman informed 
us, for recruiting or other officers connected with the 
government, it was not at all surprising, perhaps, 
that our appearance was looked upon as rather an 
unpropitious omen ; or that those who deemed them- 
selves in danger at our approach, should seek safety 
in flight, or conceal themselves in the dark recesses 
of their hiding-places. 

I am not aware of being mistaken for an officer of 
any government, at any time previous, or even since 
that period ; and however honourable, advanta- 
geous, and gratifying to human pride it may be to 
hold office, or to be even suspected of being under 
government patronage in other countries, the bare 
suspicion that we were the favourites of the Pacha, 
proved to be of some inconvenience and embarrass- 



EFFECTS OF TYRANNY. 315 

ment to us. For, being desirous to purchase a little 
milk, a few chickens, and some eggs, at one of the 
villages where we stopped, and the people mistaking 
us for some of the *' officials" of his Highness, and 
fearful that we would not make them any return, they 
refused to let us have any thing at all, and ran away 
and left us. 

The dusky children of Egypt have suffered much 
oppression and indignity throughout every generation, 
from the time of the Persian conquest down to the 
present day ; though the rule of the Pacha is no 
more exacting or severe, if so much so, than fell upon 
the necks of the Egyptians from the powerful hands 
of the Greeks and Romans during some periods of 
their domination over the country, and far less dis- 
tressing than they experienced under the barbarous 
and savage tyranny of the Memlooks. 

The natural consequences of these long ages of 
despotism and slavery are, that the people them- 
selves, accustomed to be plundered by the govern- 
ment and its officers, and unused to its care and pro- 
tection, have lost all moral courage, and are strangers 
to every principle of honesty. They have become 
base and powerless recreants, and are perfectly indif- 
ferent to every thing further than the bare necessa- 
ries to a life of listless indolence. 

We were informed that the governors and tax- 
gatherers frequently came in with claims against the 
peasants, nearly or quite sufficient to cover the whole 
products of their labour ; and, where one man's crops 
fall short of meeting these unjust and exorbitant de- 



316 INJUSTICE OF TAX-GATHERERS. 

mands, they hesitate not to levy the deficit upon his 
neighbour, who may be found in possession of a 
surphis. 

In this way, one man is made accountable to gov- 
ernment for another's liabilities ; and one town or 
village, however remote, is sometimes called upon to 
pay the arrearages of another, with which perhaps 
the inhabitants have not the least connexion what- 
ever ! 

It necessarily follows, that men guilty of such fla- 
grant acts of cruelty and injustice, are soulless and 
void of the common feelings of humanity. The only 
and most plausible pretext or excuse that these fiend- 
like tax-gatherers and governors offer in justification 
of their outrages and robbery upon the people is, that 
**^the money is owing to the Pacha, and the country 
must pay it. And, since it must be paid, it matters 
little to them whence it comes, so that they collect 
the amount of the taxes ; and they must take the 
property wherever they can find it." 

Under a system every way so unjust — first intro- 
duced by the Persians, improved upon and perfected 
in all its cruelty and abomination by the Greeks, Ro- 
mans, Arabs, and Memlooks, and which has been re- 
ligiously observed and practised upon ever since by 
the Turks — it cannot be expected that the withered 
hopes and suppressed ambition of this morally low 
and degraded people will ever be revived. There are 
left to the Egyptians none of those powerful incen- 
tives and noble promptings, so necessary to the eleva- 
tion of the human mind. All have been swept away by 



ARAB DWELLINGS. 317 

the hand of tyranny, and the land of beauty and fer- 
tility now appears comparatively desolate — a wilder- 
ness of moral darkness ! 

In the villages, as we passed along, I looked into 
some of the wretched abodes of the inhabitants, and 
found them the same loathsome and filthy dens that 
we had seen every where else inhabited by the peas- 
antry. They were s'warming with bugs, fleas, flies, 
and lice. 

At the door of one of these polluted dwellings, we 
saw an aged man sitting upon the ground, clothed in 
rags. He was smoking a rude pipe, with an air of 
contentment beaming upon his countenance, which 
attracted our attention. We saluted him in the usu- 
al style of his country, and received a courteous re- 
sponse. He rose from his seat, and returned our salu- 
tation with the ease and grace of manner peculiar to 
the dusky children of the East — a manner which 
princes even of civilized countries might be proud 
to imitate. 

His form was still erect and graceful ; though his 
flowing silvery beard, that hung far down upon his 
bosom, and his wrinkled visage, indicated the long- 
course of years that had revolved around him, with 
all their wearing, withering, wintry eflects. We 
asked him his age ; but of that he could not rightly 
inform us. He said that he was much the eldest man 
in the village ; and that he was there when Napoleon 
marched his veterans to Cairo, to fight "the battle 
of the Pyramids." He said that he had a most per- 
fect recollection of those stirring times ; and they had 



318 STORY OF AN AGED EGYPTIAN. 

Strong hopes that the day of their deliverance from 
the tyrannical and barbarous hands of the Memlooks 
had indeed arrived. He said that he and many of 
his countrymen tried to take courage ; but " it was 
of no use. Egypt is a doomed land ; and must ever 
rudely feel the yoke and burden of her oppressors." 

He told us of the barbarous cruelties inflicted upon 
some of the inhabitants of his village by the Mem- 
looks, especially upon all who were suspected of 
having property. He said, " the only prudent course 
was for a man in Egypt never lo possess any thing 
more than the bare necessities of the present moment 
require ; and that he, ever acting on that principle, 
had never attempted to accumulate any property du- 
ring his existence. Consequently, he had never had 
the misfortune to excite the jealousy of his neigh- 
bours, or attract the attention of the Memlook tax- 
gatherers or the governors of Egypt ; and, after a long 
life, he w^as now likely to end his days in peace and 
happiness." 

I thought this man a philosopher, a modern Dioge- 
nes — one who could ask no greater favour of an 
emperor or king than for him to stand aside and let 
the light and warmth of heaven descend upon him, 
with all their true, sincere, and cheering influences. 

We parted with the old man, and walked down to 
the banks of the Nile, musing over the mysteries of 
this strange existence. 



COXTINtJATION OF THE VOYAGE. 319 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Continuation of the Voyage. — Bounties of JSPature. — Pol" 
lutions of Man. — Consolation drawn from the Contempla- 
tio7i of Misery. — Adniinistraticn of the Law. — Exciting 
Incident. — First Glimpse of the Pyramids. — Termination 
of the Voyage. 

When the doctor and Seiim came up, we went on 
board, and the sailors swung the boat off the shore, 
and began to tow it up the stream. In the evening, 
the wind having subsided, we came to against the 
shore ; and, having staked the boat according to the 
usual custom on the Nile, remained tranquil through 
the night. 

We got under way again the next morning, and 
resumed our slow and tedious voyage by towing the 
boat against the current and a head wind. It was 
slow work ; and, inasmuch as our vessel was not a 
place where one would wish to remain just for the 
pleasure of the thing, the hours passed heavily away. 
The weather, though by no means pleasant, never- 
theless improved. It was neither so wet as we found 



320 BOUNTIES OF NATURE. 

it at Alexandria and along the borders of the canal, 
nor so cold and blustering as on the day before. The 
country every where bordering the Nile, exhibited the 
same picture of fertility that we had seen and so 
much admired in all parts of the Delta. 

Nature had accomplished her part well ; and ap- 
peared every where lavish in her bestowments. A 
thousand natural charms were spread out in that 
lovely region for man s enjoyment. But man him- 
self appeared to be the same degraded, filthy, thrift- 
less, savage creature that w^e had every where seen 
him in the fertile vale of Egypt. 

We were upon the banks of the river the great- 
er part of the day, walking for exercise ; but we 
were careful not to lose sight of the boat. Our 
situation on board was not an enviable one, cer- 
tainly ; still, one's feelings easily adapt themselves to 
circumstances. We began to think it not the worst 
place in the world ; and its attractions were not a lit- 
tle heightened when contrasted with the miserable 
dens of mud that skirted the borders of the river; 
nor was our condition so lamentable either when 
compared with the wretched beings that inhabited 
them. 

We endeavoured, therefore, to draw what conso- 
lation we could by contrasting our, situation with that 
of those around us ; all of whom were evidently much 
worse off than ourselves. 

If this course were generally pursued, or rather 
were we to compare the seeming ills and perplexi- 
ties of life with those which are in reality far more 



MODERN EGYPTIANS. 



321 




Modern Egyptians. 



aggi'avated than our own, much imaginary pain and 
mortification would be spared us, and the mind would 
be an infinite deal more tranquil and happy. 

In passing an old straggling village hanging upon 

Vol. L — 41 



322 



ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAW. 



the lofty banks of the river, we observed the mhab- 
itants in a state of great excitement. Women w^ere 
running about the streets, vociferating hideous cries. 
They w^ere gathering in groups along the borders of 
the stream in front of the town, and evinced by their 
hurried steps and menacing gesticulations great alarm. 
We could not at first imagine the cause of it. But 
casting our eyes upon the beach a little further up 
the stream, we saw a confused crowed clustered round 
a man who was thrust down upon the ground, and 
held by several lubberly fellows fitting upon his arms, 
legs, and breast. Another man with a heavy whip 
was administering numerous stripes upon the pros- 
trate individual. 

I was disgusted with the barbarous spectacle ; and, 
had we been sufficiently near to the inhuman scene, 
I might have had the indiscretion to interfere with 
the legal authorities in their savage mode of admin- 
istering the laws. 

When the man of the whip had evidently become 
wearied with the arduous blows which he had in- 
flicted upon a fellow-creature, he rested from his 
" official labours." The sufferer rose from his igno- 
minious bed, jumped on board a boat, which lay 
against the bank, and pushed off at a rapid rate down 
the stream. 

The knight of the lash was surrounded by several 
piratical fellows in costume, with pistols in their gir- 
dles, and sabres at their sides. The boat was soon 
out of sight, and the crowd dispersed. 

We were curious to know the meaning of a scene 



AN EXCITING INCIDENT. 323 

SO novel and strange. Upon inquiry, we learned that 
the delinquent, who had been thus publicly whipped, 
was a refractory rais. Unwilling to conform to the 
articles of his agreement with a party which he was 
conducting down the Nile, his bad conduct had com- 
pelled his employers to hand him over to the governor 
of the village for punishment. 

This was the first public whipping by ''official 
hands" that we had witnessed. Would that I could 
say it was the last. 

The sun went down gloriously behind the Libyan 
sands, and the evening set in calm and lovely. We 
had finished our tea, and taken seats to note some 
of the incidents of the day. The doctor, to enjoy 
the air, left the cabin and seated himself on ,the up- 
per deck near the steersman, with his legs hanging 
over the water. This was a careless position ; one 
in which he was certainly liable to accident. He 
might have been precipitated into the Nile, and none 
could have foreseen the consequences. 

The evening breeze had filled our sail, and some 
of the crew had lain down upon the upper deck 
and fallen asleep. We were gliding along in a 
more agreeable manner than at any time since our 
departure from Atfa, when we heard a man tumble 
from the deck, and dash into the water! The 
boat, in a moment, was all in confusion. Every 
Arab was bawling at the top of his voice, and vo- 
ciferating commands. None obeyed. All were bent 
upon doing something, yet they did little else than 
render confusion more confused. Amid this wild 



324 MAN OVERBOARD. 

uproar, the boat was hove off her course ; the wmd 
was shaken out of the sail on one side, and it fill- 
ed in upon the other, in a manner that nearly up- 
set us. 

I ran out of the cabin, and called for the doctor ; 
for I had supposed from the first that it was he who 
had fallen. 

Selim had taken the alarm. He had mounted the 
shrouds, and was " making night hideous" with the 
variety and stentorian tones of his voice. He had 
rung the doctor's name upon all the different lan- 
guages of which he had any smattering ; and the cook 
had come to his aid with a fresh pair of lungs that 
grated upon the ear like the braying of an ass. The 
scene was frightful. The sailors run the boat ashore ; 
and, amid the din, we had the satisfaction to hear 
the doctor's voice. Our apprehension in regard to 
his safety was now relieved. But still there was a 
man overboard ! and we supposed he was rapidly 
sinking into eternity ! 

The moment the boat touched the bank, most of 
the men caught up each an oar, leaped on shore, and 
ran down the borders of the stream, calling out for 
their lost companion in tones loud and frightful 
enough to have raised the dead. 

The rapid current had prevented the drowning man 
from gaining the land, and had borne him a long dis- 
tance down the Nile ; consequently it was some time 
before the sailors heard his shouts for help. When 
at last they were abreast of him, they had run them- 
selves out of breath. But no time was to be lost 



FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE PYRAMIDS. 325 

The man was near his end : instantaneous help alone 
could save him. They all rushed into the river ; and, 
instead of half our crew perishing in the water, as 
might have been the case, they all succeeded in re- 
gaining the bank, and in dragging their drowning 
companion out with them. He was, however, in 
such a state of exhaustion, that he could not have 
survived much longer. They brought him on board, 
wrapped him up as well as they could, and stowed 
him away in the straw. It appeared that he had 
fallen asleep, and an unlucky swing of the boat, or a 
careless turn of his own, had tumbled him off into the 
river. The magic of his dream was quenched by the 
chilly waves. 

All things being once more put to rights, the boat 
was again pushed out from the shore, and our old 
ragged sail given to the wind. The breeze had fresh- 
ened a little during the exciting scene which we had 
just witnessed, and now bore us onward in gallant 
style. The wind continuing fair and fresh through 
the night, we had measured a good part of the remain- 
ing distance of our voyage before morning ; and the 
first thing we saw on looking out of our cabin, were 
the great pyramids of Ghizeh, burnished by the fresh 
tints of the rising sun, pouring its mellow beams over 
the barren mountains that skirt the borders of Egypt. 
On an elevated terrace in the distance rose the bold 
and beautiful minarets and gilded domes of Cairo. 
The villages of Bulak and Shoubra stood upon the 
banks of the Nile, overlooking a vast extent of culti- 



326 



THE PYRAMIDS. 



vated plain, rich with the green crops of the year. 
The obelisk of Heliopolis stood against the eastern 
sky ; and the boundless desert of Libya stretched off 
toward the west, like an ocean of desolation. 




SITUATIOX OF SHOUBRA. 



327 




A Part of Cairo, with the Citadel, exhibiting the Mulgitfs for 

CATCHING THE WiND ON THE ToPS OF THE HorSES. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



Palace and Gardens of Mehemet Ali. — Sand-gale. — Arri- 
val at Cairo. — First Impressions. — The Hotel and ''mine 
Host.^' — Ride to the Citadel. — Mosque of Sultan Hassan, 
— Palace of the Citadel. — Joseph'' s Well. — Brilliant Cir- 
cle. — Shaving Heads. — Sprig of JYohility. — A Member 
of Parliament. — ''A two-Bottle Man.^' — Gloomy Pros- 
pect. — Dinner4able Chat. 

The usual port of entry to the capital of Egypt is 
Bulak, which stands some distance above Shoubra, 
into which the strong south wind had forced us, and 
almost precluded the possibility of our ascending the 
river any farther. Shoubra is delightfully situated 
upon the east bank of the Nile ; and is the St. Cloud, 
Windsor, or Potsdam of the Pacha of Egypt. Here 
he has a palace of much taste and splendour ; beau- 



328 A SAND-GALE. 

tiful gardens, embellished with shrubs, fruits, and 
flowers ; and a pavilion of great extent and magnifi- 
cence. Here he usually resides when in this part of 
the country ; and a more charming residence could 
hardly be imagined. Here, previously to the disso- 
lution of the Pacha's harem, the numerous inmates, 
adorned with princely elegance, displayed their vo- 
luptuous charms in all the seductive extravagance 
peculiar to the East. But the harem having been 
broken up, and the Pacha being in Alexandria, occu- 
pied with the perplexing affairs of state, Shoubra pre- 
sented a lonely and quiet aspect. The trees were 
bending beneath the yellow fruits of the season ; the 
air was redolent with the perfumes of a thousand 
blossoms ; and the broad fields of wheat and clover 
waved before the breeze in their own peculiar beau- 
ty. A few liveried servants and armed guardians of 
the royal abode relieved it from utter loneliness and 
gloom. 

We made an arrangement for camels to convey 
ourselves and luggage to Cairo ; and after handing 
over the usual buckshish to the rais and sailors, we 
bade them adieu, and entered the broad avenue, 
skirted with trees, which leads from the palace of 
Shoubra to the gates of the city. 

We had now a sample of the cutting winds of 
Egypt, charged with the fine sands of the droughty 
plains. The atmosphere was thick and heavy, and 
the sun's rays struggled obscurely through the dark- 
ling gale. We endeavoured, by enveloping our faces 
in green veils, to screen them from the pernicious 



ARRIVAL AT CAIRO. 



329 



effects of this storm of sand. These we found una- 
vaihng ; we might as well have undertaken to stay 
Niagara's downward rush with a lady's fan. The 
wind pierced every thing, like a pestilential scourge. 
Eyes, ears, neck, and bosom were soon loaded with 
the gritty blast. No nook or corner escaped its pierc- 
ing search. So extraordinary are these pecuhar sand- 
gales in Egypt, that it is said the pulverized particles 
of dust will penetrate the shell of an egg. Nothing 
can be more disagreeable to encounter. We had soon 
traversed the distance, however, from Shoubra to 
the town, and entered the gates of the city. We 
urged our languid animals along the narrow, gloomy 
streets, overshadowed by the sombre Moslem dwell- 
ings which almost embraced each other above the 
first story, and mingled themselves into one uncouth, 
shapeless mass of mud, sticks, and stones. The gen- 
eral aspect of every thing was dusty, prison-like, and 
pecuhar. Arabs, Armenians, Copts, Egyptians, Greeks, 
Jews, Syrians, and Turks were perambulating the " 
streets, dressed in their native costumes. They had 
their long-stemmed pipes, and were pursuing their 
various avocations with all that drowsy, slothful dul- 
ness common to the subjects of the Subhme Porte. 
Women, shrouded in long, loose robes, and masked, 
were dodging their way through the dusky throng, 
casting their voluptuous glances as they passed, and 
apparently happy in all their filth and tawdry rags. 

On reaching the hotel, we found it crowded, dark, 
dirty, and dear. It was kept by a Frank. We were, 
however, desirous to take up our abode in it for the 

Vol. I. — 42 



330 



MODERN EGYPTIANS. 




Modern Egyptians. 



time being ; but there were do vacant rooms in the 
house. All had been occupied for several days by 
Mr. Firkins, the Wrinklebottoms, Rinitapers, and sev- 
eral other English parties, who had recently arrived 
from Arabia, Europe, India, and Palestine; and were 



AN EGYPTIAN WOMAN. 



331 




An Egyptian Woman masked. 

now actively engaged with the sights of the town, 
and in completing arrangements for their departure. 
After much sounding conversation on the part of 
•' mine host" (who magnified himself into a kind of 
martyr, in condescending to waste his precious time 
and heahh in the wretched climate and barbarous 



332 HOTEL CHARGES. 

land of Egypt, all for the benefit and convenience 
of travellers like ourselves), he consented to lodge 
our party in two small dark rooms in a neighbouring 
house, and agreed to furnish us with meals at the 
table d'hote for the ruinously low price of seven dol- 
lars and a half per day ! He wished us, however, to 
understand that he came down to this losing price, 
and put himself to no little inconvenience, merely to 
oblige us ; and that so far from its being of the least 
benefit to him, it was really an operation by which 
he would unavoidably make a. considerable sacrifice. 
Nothing but his friendship for us (which seemed to 
have been almost as suddenly conceived as that which 
inspired Mr. and Mrs. Firkins on our arrival in Alex- 
andria) could induce him to consider our necessities, 
and finally to take us under his paternal care and pro- 
tection. His eloquence made us feel our dependance, 
and the burden which we were upon his shoulders, 
to such a degree, that we left him and his rooms in a 
day or two after our arrival, and took a three-story 
house, decently furnished, for the extravagant charge 
of one dollar per day ! However, for the moment, 
there was no other way but to lay ourselves under 
many obligations to the obliging host. We were con- 
ducted into the gloomy court of our new habitation, 
where the camels knelt to be relieved from the bur- 
den of our luggage, which the Arabs conveyed to our 
lodgings. 

We sat down for a few moments, ruminating upon 
the strange scenes that had passed during the morn- 
ing, when the doctor came in and proposed to take 



MOSQUE OF SULTAN HASSAN. 333 

a look about the town. We sallied forth, and wound 
our way through the complicated, noisy, narrow 
streets, until we reached the citadel. 

An obliging English officer, whose acquaintance 
we had made on the voyage down from Trieste to 
Athens, and who had been in Cairo waiting the arri- 
val of the Bombay steamer, offered to act as our cice- 
rone. We were happy to avail ourselves of his ci- 
vilities. Having been daily and actively employed 
in examining the town since his arrival in Cairo, and 
made himself quite familiar with the locality of most 
of the objects of general interest, he pointed out ma- 
ny things as we rode along that were counted among 
the w^onders of Musr — the appellation given by the 
Arabs to the metropolis of Egypt. 

Many of the edifices are well built, and some of 
the mosques exhibit much architectural elegance and 
grandeur. The mosque of Sultan Hassan,* which 
stands in a commanding position, is doubtless the 
most beautiful erection in Cairo. Its lofty and well- 
proportioned minaret is chaste and imposing. The 
principal attraction of this mosque, however, consists 
in its exterior beauty and embellishment. We were 
permitted to enter it, without our shoes ; but there 
was little within the walls to compensate us for the 
trouble we took. This, we were informed, is con- 
sidered by the faithful the most sacred mosque in 
Cairo ; and it is by far the most expensive in its 
whole adornment and extent. We saw several shoe- 

*This mosque was «* constructed with the stones of the pyramids." — Wil- 
kinson's Topography of Thebes, note, p. 334. 



334 



INTERIOR OF A MOSQUE. 




Interior of a Mosque. 

less Moslems at their devotions, exercised with much 
apparent fervour and sincerity. 

On leaving the mosque of Sultan Hassan, we rode 
up to the citadel, which stands upon an elevated 
ridge of rock, called Mukattam. The citadel com- 
mands the town ; for which purpose it was most 



'vlOSLEMS AT THEIll DEVOTIONS. 



335 



probably erected. The gates were guarded by drow- 
sy one-eyed soldiers, who were reclining against the 
walls, regardless of what was passing. 




Moslems at their Devotions. 



In a military point of view, the citadel and the 
garrison did not exhibit much strength or discipline. 
It is doubtless of far more importance to the Pacha 
for keeping the dusky citizens in awe, than for any 
other purpose. 

We entered the palace of Mehemet Ali, which 
stands within the enclosure of the citadel ; and, but 
for the tempest of dust which was then driving over 
the surrounding plains, we should have had an ex- 
tensive view up and down the vale of the Nile. The 
palace is a plain empty shell, with little or no furni- 
ture, except straw carpets and broad divans. It is a 
kind of glass house, having more large windows than 



336 JOSEPH'S WELL. 

any other building in Egypt. There is a small flow- 
er-garden attached, but the whole establishment has 
more the appearance of a hunting-lodge of a Eu- 
ropean sportsman, than the residence of a reigning 
prince. 

There are some other things to be looked into, 
about the citadel, and the deepest of them all is 
" Joseph's well." This extraordinary well, reaching 
down through the soft calcareous rock to the depth 
of more than two hundred and sixty feet, is nearly 
fifty feet in circumference at the top, and is divided 
into an upper and lower well, having a flight of wind- 
ing stairs leading to the bottom. The water tastes a 
little brackish, and is supposed to be from the Nile, 
filtered through the rock. It is raised in buckets or 
earthen pots, by means of two wheels. One is upon 
the surface of the ground, and the other is placed 
at the depth of one hundred and fifty feet beneath. 
They are both turned by oxen. The garrison is par- 
tially supplied with the w^ater of Joseph's well, and 
the surplus is used for irrigating the Pacha's garden 
and other little verdant spots that cheer the general 
gloominess of the interior of the fortress. 

This well is supposed to have been excavated by 
the ancient Egyptians. It was, however, filled up 
with sand when discovered in the twelfth century by 
Yoosef Saladin ; and was re-excavated by him, and 
has borne his name ever since. 

This warlike prince erected a fortress upon the 
spot, walled it round, and built a splendid palace 
within the enclosure. There is nothing now left of 



BRILLIANT CIRCLE. 337 

the palace except a few prostrate columns called the 
pillars of " Joseph's Hall." The shattered ruins of 
the Caliph's palace have been swept away to make 
room for an extensive mosque which the Pacha has 
ordered to be erected upon its site. 

The new mosque had been some years in the pro- 
cess of erection when we were in Cairo ; and, judg- 
ing from the clumsy, dilatory manner in which the 
Arabs were going on with the work, many years more 
must elapse before it is completed. The material of 
this new erection is, indeed, very beautiful, being a 
dark alabaster marble, wdiich, in the hands of skilful 
workmen, / could hardly fail to make an edifice of 
surpassing beauty and richness. 

The sun, having been all day obscured by the drift- 
ing clouds of sand, now sank behind the Libyan hills. 
We left the citadel, and returned to the hotel. We 
found a briUiant party of English ladies and gentle- 
men assembled in the drawing-room, w^aiting the an- 
nouncement of dinner. It was still a mechanical 
hour for EngUsh people to dine ; but having penetra- 
ted so far into the dark and benighted corners of the 
East, they no doubt thought themselves quite secure 
from the cavillings of the fashionable world, and were 
disposed to satisfy their imperious appetites, even at 
this early hour. Here were the Wrinklebottoms, Sir 
D anbury Rimtaper and his three maiden sisters, the 
Reverend Mr. Dunderblix, Lord Scatterberry, Colonel 
Builderdash, and his accomphshed lady and daugh- 
ter. Mr. Firkins too was subsequently of the party ; 
but just at that moment he was with an Arab barber, 

Vol. L-— 43 



338 



AN EGYPTIAN BARBER. 



having his head shaved. All the gentlemen present, 
with the exception of Sir Danbiiry, had gone through 
the same operation. Thev had also put on the red 



m^ 




An Egyptian Barber. 

caps of the country, and provided themselves w^ith 
long pipes and capacious tobacco-bags. Some of 
them had made such extraordinary advances in the 
manners and customs of the Arabs, that they ap- 
peared in full costume, w^ith flint and steel danghng 
at their girdles, and ample turbooshes upon their 
heads. 



RAPID TRAVELLING. 339 

The Egyptians, as is generally known, shave their 
heads, and let their beards grow at full length. This 
pleasing feature in the barbarous habits of the Arabs, 
took well with the brilliant circle around us. The 
gentlemen had nearly all entered into it with a lively 
spirit, and a becoming respect for the manners and 
customs of the country. Mr. Wrinklebottom acted 
as master of ceremonies, in the absence of Mr. Fir- 
kins ; and was so obliging as to give us a formal in- 
troduction to Lord Scatterberry, Sir D anbury Rimta- 
per and his charming sisters. Colonel Builderdash and 
his ladies, the Reverend Mr. Dunderblix, several offi- 
cers of her Majesty's army, and sundry other person- 
ages of more moderate distinction. Colonel Builder- 
dash, his ladies and retinue, had just arrived from Je- 
rusalem. They had made the journey through the 
desert, by Gaza and El-Arish to Cairo, in twenty 
days ! This unexampled velocity was the wonder 
and admiration of the whole party. The colonel 
appeared to be in excellent health, and Mrs. Builder- 
dash and her daughter, with their ftmme de chamhre, 
had borne the journey remarkably well. They had 
rode full ten miles a day, and most of the distance, on 
camels ! — though in addition to twenty-three camels 
which it required to convey this interesting family 
and their cortege through the desert, the colonel had 
provided himself with mules for the ladies, so that 
they had at last accomplished this remarkable jour- 
ney with comparative ease and comfort. They were 
now the lions of all the hons ; and the measure of 
their gratification was full to overflowing. The 



340 A SPRIG OF NOBILITY. 

colonel was an amiable, communicative creature, ana 
told me, sub rosa, that he was one of the younger sons 
of a noble English family, and that he was then a 
member of Parliament. This information was inter- 
esting to me, and it was evidently important to the 
colonel to disseminate it as widely as possible. He 
contemplated making a voyage on the Nile to the 
upper country ; and his dragoman, valet de chambre, 
physician, and the young lady's drawing-master were 
all exceedingly busy in making arrangements for their 
departure. They had already engaged several of the 
best boats at Bulak ; and little else remained to be 
accomplished, than to replenish their stores, and set 
out on the voyage. 

Lord Scatterberry had been in Cairo several weeks. 
He had not been idle. He informed me that he had 
made the acquaintance of every man of distinction 
in the place. He had also seen all that was curious, 
and had nearly completed his arrangements for his 
departure to the cataracts of the Nile. He was a 
thorough emancipationist, and was a member of the 
House of Lords at the time of the passage of the 
celebrated emancipation act. He had, however, been 
to the slave-market that afternoon, and purchased the 
handsomest Nubian female slave that he could find. 
She was to accompany him on the voyage. He spoke 
of her beauty in rapturous terms ; and said, " if she 
was a clever girl, on his return he would set her free !" 
Lord Scatterberry, as we subsequently learned, had 
been a gay young man, and immense sums had 
slipped through his fingers at the gaming-table, and 



A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT. 341 

in Other ways scarcely more to his credit. He was 
a professed wit ; or rather prided himself upon his 
piquant conversational powers, and the happy satiri- 
cal cuts with which he equally lashed his friends and 
foes. His pungent remarks had led the way to more 
than one duel, in which his lordship had sometimes 
escaped by the skin of his teeth He was then daily 
suffering the penalty of his imprudence, and had the 
ball of one of his duelling antagonists still festering 
in his arm. His lordship had been married three 
times, but all his wives were dead. His conduct, 
after their decease, had marked a becoming respect 
for the departed, which had done much to silence the 
impudent and malicious ebullitions of scandal. He 
made a splendid and pompous funeral at the death 
of each of the accomplished Ladies Scatterberry, and 
erected magnificent monuments with endearing epi- 
taphs over their graves. He would have married a 
fourth time, but decayed fortune and declining years 
oflTered some obstacles to a union suited to his incli- 
nations and rank. His health had latterly much de- 
clined, in consequence, as he said, of his domestic 
afflictions, and the damp, wretched climate of Eng- 
land. He was limping with the gout, and his arm 
was handsomely suspended in a well-arranged sling. 
He came off to Egypt, he said, to " cheat the winter,'* 
and his hopes were high of the beneficial effects of 
its mild climate upon his shattered constitution. 

The Reverend Mr. Dunderblix was a gentleman of 
immense figure and singular construction. He was 
full six feet five in height; broad across the shoulders ; 



342 « A TWO-BOTTLE MAN." 

slouching in his gait, and imperious in his expression. 
He had fallen in with the customs of the country so 
far as to shave his head and wear a red cap. He 
also smoked the long pipe with a gusto equal to that 
of any one of his countrymen. But while Mr. Dun- 
derblix gave way to the harmless Egyptian fashion 
of shaving the head, letting the beard grow at large, 
and putting on certain tawdry and outlandish habili- 
ments upon his person, he did not neglect the weigh- 
tier matters of his taste^ formed in earlier years, in his 
own country. He drank as copiously of heavy wines 
and strong liquors as when he reposed quietly amid 
all the comforts of an English home, surrounded by 
the dear people of his charge. He was what would 
be called in England, " a regular two-bottle man ;" 
consequently he was enabled to preserve the scarlet 
hue of his rubicund visage, which defyingly vied in 
depth and vividness with the hvely colour of his cap. 
The general aspect and bearing of the Reverend 
Mr. Dunderblix was so slightly clerical, that, at first 
sight, he was the last man I should have taken for a 
clergyman. He had much more the appearance of 
a seafaring man ; and, had he been a little more lofty 
in his gait, I should have taken him for a well-fed 
" half-pay officer" of her Majesty's navy. There was 
a sort of forbidding expression about the face of Mr. 
Dunderblix ; but after the icy forms of an introduc- 
tion had melted away, he became another being : he 
was affable, and preferred talking about his own af- 
fairs to those of other people. He informed me that 
he held a " Uving" in the south of Ireland ; though, 



CLERICAL ILIBITS. 343 

when at 'oine, he resided in the city of Dubliu ! He 
said the condition of his parish was most lamentable. 
In a community of nearly one thousand souls, all of 
whom were compulsory contributors to his " living," 
there were not more than forty or fifty belonging to 
his church. All the rest were Catholics of the most 
confirmed and obdurate character, and would not, 
under any circumstances, sit under his ministry, nor 
pay him a single farthing except by compulsion. He 
said he had experienced much inconvenience and 
loss, and sometimes personal peril, in collecting his 
tithes. But now he was congratulating himself upon 
the favourable change that a recent act of Parliament 
had brought about in his afiairs. This act had re- 
duced the nominal amount of his " living" one fourth, 
but it had secured the punctual payment of the re- 
maining three fourths, upon the estates of the landed 
proprietors. He anticipated no pecuniary embarrass- 
ments for the future, and said he could depend upon 
the prompt remittance of his " living" regularly each 
quarter-day. 

Mr. Dunderblix further said : " I have already been 
from 'ome three years, you know ; I have been trav- 
elling for my health, you know ; and after a tour 
through Arabia and the Holy Land, you know, I con- 
template a journey into Russia, Sweden, and Norway, 
you know. I think it may be quite two years before 
I will be able to return 'ome, you know, you know." 

This appeared to me an easy way of performing 
clerical duties, and I expressed as much to the Rev- 
erend Mr. Dunderblix at the time. He informed me, 



344 COMPENSATION OF CURATES. 

however, that nothing was more common in England. 
** The beneficiary," said he, " seldom attends to the 
active duties of the church, you know. These are 
matters that are left entirely to the curate, you know. 
If a clergyman, enjoying a church living, has a con- 
scientious, efficient, industrious curate, you know, he 
has little or no occasion to be embarrassed with the 
monotonous details of the church service, you know." 
He informed me that he had an honest and devoted 
curate, who read the prayers, and went regularly 
through with all the forms in .a manner so acceptable 
that every thing was done quite as satisfactorily as if 
he were on the spot himself. 

I made some inquiries respecting the emoluments 
of this responsible office of curate, to a travelling 
beneficiary of the EngUsh church. Mr. Dunderblix 
said, " That depends, you know, sometimes more and 
sometimes less, you know. Twenty-five, thirty, and 
occasionally as much as fifty pounds sterling a year 
are paid to a curate, you know. The curate of my 
parish receives forty pounds. But he is an excellent 
man, and has the interest of the church quite at heart, 
you know, you know." 

Here our interesting conversation was interrupted 
by Sir Danbury Rimtaper, who wished to learn if I 
intended to go into the upper country. I replied in 
the affirmative. "You will be demmed fortunate," 
said Sir Danbury, " if you succeed in getting a boat, 
'pon honour. I have already been in Cairo three 
weeks, backed by all the powers of the English and 
American consulates ; and, up to this time, I have 



SIR DANBURY RIMTAPER. 345 

not been able to engage a boat of sufficient size to 
accommodate myself and ladies, 'pon honour." — 
" Possibly/' said I, " you may be a little fastidious in 
your taste, Sir Danbury. I dare say there are boats 
to be had, although they may not be so large or ele- 
gant as an EngUsh gentleman could desire." — " Not 
a plank, 'pon honour," replied he ; " there i^ nothing 
down the Nile, at present, but some demmed lousy, 
pent-up, nasty hulks — not decent enough to carry a 
convict to the gallows, 'pon honour. I want an am- 
ple boat, with four separate cabins. Each of the 
Misses Rimtaper must have a state-room to herself, 
'pon honour." 

Sir Danbury was a tall, spindle-shanked bachelor, 
with a bald head, hooked nose, red whiskers, and a 
gouty foot. He was limping about, and grumbling at 
every thing in Egypt ; and swore " he had not seen a 
pretty woman since he came into the country, 'pon 
honour." He was a passionate admirer of the fair 
sex, and embellished every sentence he uttered with 
oaths and imprecations. He was ascending to a high 
pitch of fault-finding and profanity, when Mr. Firkins 
returned from the barber's. Dinner was then an- 
nounced, and the ladies were handed down to table 
with considerable form. 

Sir Danbury, on reaching his place, previously to 
taking his seat, raised a ponderous gold-mounted 
quizzing-glass, and brought it to bear in the most 
searching and amusing style upon the various dishes 
that were set before us. For the space of a minute, 
Sir Danbury passed his eye up and down the table, 

Vol. L— 44 



346 DINNER INSPECTIONS. 

and looked things unutterable. He then let his glass 
drop, sunk into his chair, and exclaimed, " Dem me ! 
if this ain't dubious enough !" He looked as if every 
bone ached in his body. I thought he was suddenly 
seized with a more aggravated attack of the gout, 
and observed, " Sir Danbury, you must be ill." — " 111 I 
who the d 1 could be otherwise under these cir- 
cumstances 1 Such a dinner ! John, fetch me the 
brandy ; I'm faint, 'pon honour." Lord Scatterberry, 
in the mean time, had drawn up his quizzing-glass ; 
Colonel Builderdash had puHed out his ; and the 
Reverend Mr. Dunderblix, not a whit behind his 
friends, held his also in his hand. The ladies, too, 
were all inspecting the dinner through powerful mag- 
nifiers, and with a disaffected cast of visage. Affairs 
had suddenly assumed an ominous aspect, and the 
dinner did not promise a very happy deliverance from 
the melancholy dilemma. A Bologna sausage, some 
dried tongue, a few small fish from the Nile, a leg 
of mutton half boiled, two chickens, watery mac- 
caroni soup, a bottle of pepper-sauce, and several 
plates of onions and vinegar were placed before us. 
" Mine host" was all attention to his guests, and ex- 
ceedingly solicitous in his inquiries to know " what 
kind of wine we would take ?" He said " he kept 
none but the best, and those only from the London 
docks. Twelve and sixpence a bottle were the 
poorest wines ever ordered at table. Nothing but 
the best of every thing was allowed in his house. 
The reputation of his hotel was not to be trifled with ; 
and nothing but good wine, a good table, and the 



DINNER-TABLE CHAT. 347 

best of attendance, could sustain its present fame." 
He also added, that he " made a point of consulting 
the comfort and interest of his guests rather than 
his own." 

After the soup, wine began to circulate pretty freelj. 
The conversation and expression of faces assumed a 
little more animation. The ladies launched off into 
quite an amusing and interesting strain. The Misses 
Rimtaper were suddenly delighted with Cairo, and 
admired almost every thing they saw ; " it was all 
so odd." 

I happened to be rather propitiously seated, and 
found myself in the very centre of " rank and fashion." 
I had Lady Builderdash on my right. Lord Scatter- 
berry, Sir Danbury Rimtaper, and the Misses Rimta- 
per opposite, and the colonel and Miss Builderdash 
on my left. The Wrinklebottoms grouped around 
the head of the table. The Reverend Mr. Dunder- 
blix and Mr. Firkins were seated vis-a-vis, a little 
lower down. After two or three glasses, they im- 
mediately entered into an animated discussion about 
the church and state policy of Great Britain, and 
the government of Mehemet Ah. They violently 
disagreed, however, upon almost every point that was 
started. The more they endeavoured to soothe the 
asperity of their feehngs with rather lavish Hbations 
of wine, the more fierce and alarming the fire of dis- 
cord raged. At last, after a stormy sitting, during 
which they had emptied several bottles, Mr. Dunder- 
bhx called Mr. Firkins " a poltroon and a stupid ass, 
you know ;" and Mr. Firkins retorted that Mr. Dun- 



348 A DISCUSSION. 

derblix was " an infernal hypocrite, and was no more 
deserving the * church hving' which he held in Ire- 
land, than he (Mr. F.) merited the throne of Turkey." 

Lord Scatterberry attacked me upon the slave ques- 
tion. He said slavery was one of the greatest evils 
and abominations of the United States. I defended 
myself and country as well as I could, and observed 
to his lordship that slavery was one of those blessings 
entailed upon us by the mother country ; an inherit- 
ance which, up to the present time, we had not been 
able to shake off. I told his lardship, also, that I be- 
lieved a large number of the people of the United 
States were opposed to slavery ; but it was the opin- 
ion of some of the most intelligent citizens of the 
Union that it was nevertheless a subject of extreme 
delicacy, and ought to be treated with caution and 
wisdom. Some wholesome preparatory measures 
were supposed to be absolutely indispensable to the 
slave, previously to his emancipation, in order that 
he might enjoy the full benefit of his freedom. I 
was aware that England had acted with other views 
in emancipating the black population of her colonial 
possessions in the West Indies ; but it was supposed 
by many that the experiment had not been satisfacto- 
rily tested ; and it still remained a question with some 
of his countrymen, whether the condition of the 
blacks had been much improved by the philanthropic 
course of Parliament in their behalf 

His lordship rejoined : " It will never do for an 
American to talk of freedom, so long as there is a 
slave owned by a citizen of the United States." I 



AN AMICABLE ADJUSTMENT. 349 

observed, in reply, that I had heard much about free- 
dom and the inaUenable rights of man, in my rambles 
through Great Britain, but I was greatly mistaken if 
the slaves in the United States were not as much 
civihzed, as intelligent, as well fed, and as happy as 
a large proportion of the wretched peasantry in his 
own country ; and, if it were considered to be an act 
of such criminality, as his lordship supposed, to be- 
come the owner of a slave, I could not but be sur- 
prised at what his lordship had done on that day in 
the slave-market of Cairo ! — Whereupon his lord- 
ship requested the pleasure of taking wine with me, 
and the slave question dropped into our glasses, and 
was not again revived. 




One of Johnny Bull's Free and Happy Subjects. 

I am trusted with a muzzle, and enfranchised with a clog." 

Shakspeabe. 



350 THE MISSES RIMTAPEE. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Rimtapers, Wrinklebottoms, and Cats. — Moslem, Bequest. — 
Sacred Animals of Egypt. — Feast of Mr. Firkins. — Bis- 
aster and Fright. — Theatrical Jfovelty, and Fashionable 
Squeeze. 

The three enchanting Misses Rimtaper had all 
passed the meridian splendour of their teens some 
twenty years before, which threw them on the shady 
side of forty. They were passionately fond of oddi- 
ties : thereby affording fmther illustration of the fact 
that " all things are after their kind." They were 
enabled, however, through the transforming influen- 
ces of dentists, perruquiers, milliners, and perfumers, 
still to keep up a fashionable form and figure ; and 
they displayed their charms at the dinner-table with 
much success. They made a good many of what 
might be called " capital hits ;" one of which was an 
accidental thrust of the elbow in the side of Lord 
Scatterberry, which nearly threw his lordship into 
convulsions. Another, that produced no little sensa- 
tion at the time, was an unfortunate crush of a deli- 
cate slipper upon the gouty foot of Sir Danbury Rim- 
taper, who roared out applaudingly, " Curse me, if 
Tm not to be flayed alive !" The tone of their con- 
versation touched a high key, and they burst into a 



COMPARATIVE BEAUTY OF CATS. 351 

Strain of touching eloquence, during an animated dis- 
cussion with the Wrinklebottoms, upon the important 
subject of the public cats I 

Both the Rimtapers and the Wrinklebottoms had 
passed the morning at the ckadee's, where they had 
been to see that distinguished functionary feed the 
houseless cats of Cairo. Thev were all delighted with 
" this extraordinary spectarkal^' and thought it second 
only in interest to the snakery of Mr. Sneezebiter. 
They were unanimous upon this point, but upon al- 
most every thing else they very much differed in 
opinion. 

The comparative beauty of the cats was an exci- 
ting theme, and one which kindled the whole party 
into more warmth and animation than any other that 
was started during their entertaining debate. The 
Rimtapers greatly preferred the cats with white feet 
and black noses ; and the Wrinklebottoms, while they 
affected equal detestation and horror of these, were 
enraptured with those which had black tails and 
spotted faces. It seemed to be impossible for them 
to agree upon this important question ; which, after 
all, was a mere matter of taste. At length, they re- 
ferred the whole matter to Sir D anbury, and desired 
to know what was his candid opinion about it. vSir 
Danbury replied, with characteristic urbanity and 
chasteness, that " he'd be d— ^ — d if he could tell 
which were the handsomest ; he couldn't, 'pon hon- 
our '" Here the subject of the cats was dropped by 
common consent, and the conversation turned upon 
other topics of equal interest. 



352 A MOSLEM BEQUEST. 

It is a singular and good-natured provision of the 
Moslems — though it may be doubted by intelUgent 
persons at a distance, yet it is nevertheless a fact — 
that the puhlic cats are daily fed by the ckadee of 
Cairo ; and considerable sums have frequently been 
left, at the death of Moslems, in aid of the funds for 
this charity. "The Sooltan Ez-Zahir Beyburs be- 
queathed a garden, which is called gheyt el-ckoottah 
(or the Garden of the Cats), near his mosque, in the 
north of Cairo, for their benefit."^ But, although the 
funds left for the support of the houseless cats w^ere, 
at one time, quite ample, owing to the mismanage- 
ment and profligacy of his predecessors, " almost the 
whole expense of supporting them has fallen upon 
the ckadee, who, by reason of his office, is the guar- 
dian of this and all other charitable and pious lega- 
cies. Latterly, how^ever, the duty of feeding the cats 
has been very inadequately performed. Many per- 
sons in Cairo, when they wish to get rid of a cat, 
send or take it to the ckadee's house, and let it loose 
in the great court."! The Moslems evince a sur- 
prising fondness for this animal, especially the tom, 
and allow it to be not only a constant companion of 
their children, but permit it to eat out of the same 
dish with themselves. 

Cats in Egypt are said to be much more teachable 
than in Europe. " The cat and dog are not there 
,he emblems of discord."J 

The tender regard manifested by the modern Egyp- 

• Lane's Modern Egyptians, i. p. 393. f I^id. 

% Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, iii. p. 44. 



SACRED ANIMAI.S OF EGYPT. 353 

tians toward the cat, naturally reminds one of the 
esteem in which these animals were held by their 
ancestors ; by whom, one would suppose from the 
care with which they were embalmed after death, 
they were considered very sacred. Many of the 
Egyptians think it wTong to kill the cat, or even to 
ill-treat it ; though they do not now, as anciently, 
shave off their eyebrows at their death. " In what- 
ever family a cat by accident happens to die," says 
Herodotus, " every individual cuts off his eyebrow^s ; 
but on the death of a dog, they shave their heads 
and every part of their bodies."* 

The regard in which all the sacred animals were 
held by the ancient Egyptians, is certainly very sur- 
prising. " When any one of them dies," says Diodo- 
rus, " they wrap it in fine linen, and w ith howling 
beat upon their breasts, and so carry it forth to be 
salted ; and then, after having anointed it with the 
oil of cedar and other things, which both give the 
body a fragrant smell, and preserve it a long time 
from putrefaction, they bury it in a secret place. He 
that wilfully kills any one of these beasts, is to suffer 
death ; but if any kill a cat or the bird Ibis, whether 
wdlfuUy or otherwise, he is certainly dragged away 
to death by the multitude, and sometimes most cru- 
elly, without any formal trial or judgment of law 
And such is the religious veneration impressed upon 
the hearts of men toward these creatures, and so 
obstinately is every one bent to adore and worship 
them, that even at the time when the Romans were 

* Herod, ii. 66. 

Vol. L — 45 



354 ANCIENT REGARD FOR CATS. 

making a league with Ptolemy, and all the people 
made it their great business to caress and show all 
civility and kindness imaginable to them that came 
out of Italy, and through fear strove all they could 
that no occasion might in the least be given to diso- 
blige them, or be the cause of a war ; yet it so hap- 
pened, that upon a cat's being killed by a Roman, the 
people in a tumult ran to his lodging, and neither the 
prince sent by the king to dissuade them, nor the 
fear of the Romans, could deliver the person from 
the rage of the people, though he did it against his 
will ; and this I relate not by hearsay, but was myself 
an eye-witness of it at the time of my travels in 
Egypt."* 

The solicitude of the ancient Egyptians for the 
safety of this object of their extreme veneration, 
seems to have occasioned them no little pain and 
trouble. In the city of New York, with all the pen- 
alties of our fires, follies, and whims thick upon us, 
we have abundant reason, perhaps, to congratulate 
ourselves that the love and veneration for cats do 
not glow in our breasts with that fervour which 
warmed the bosoms of the old Egyptians. Were 
that the case, the town would be burnt down over 
our heads a dozen times a day, and we should have 
little left but the smouldering ashes of its ruin and 
our cats. " In every accident of fire," says Herodo- 
tus, " the cats seem to be actuated by some super- 
natural impulse ; for the Egyptians, surrounding the 
place which is burning, appear to be occupied with 

♦ Diod. i. 84. 



OBSERVANCES ON THE DEMISE OF CATS. 355 

no thought bat that of preserving their cats. These, 
however, by steahng between the legs of the specta- 
tors, or by leaping over their heads, endeavour to 
dart into the flames. This circumstance, whenever 
it happens, diffuses universal sorrow. In whatever 
family a cat by accident happens to die, every indi- 
vidual cuts off his eyebrows."* 

Herodotus also observes, that " the cats, when dead, 
are carried to sacred buildings, and after being salted, 
are buried in the city Bubastis."t 

" It is reported," says Diodorus, " that at a time 
when there was a famine in Egypt, many were driv- 
en to that strait, that by turns they fed one upon 
another ; but not a man was accused to have in the 
least tasted of any of these sacred creatures. And 
when they have been abroad in the wars in foreign 
countries, they have with great lamentation brought 
dead cats with them into Egypt; when, in the mean 
time, they have been ready to starve for the want of 
provision."! 

Immediately upon the abrupt and discourteous ter- 
mination of the conversation between Mr, Firkins and 
the Reverend Mr. DunderbUx, Mr. Firkins rose frora 
the table, and repaired, with a hurried and tottering 
gait, to the great open court of the hotel. Here he re- 
ceived the uproarious salutation of some fifty or sixty 
mule-drivers ; who, in accordance with an invitation 
from Mr. Firkins, sent out the day previous, had as- 
sembled to pay their respects to him, and to partake 
of a repast prepared for their entertainment. It was 

* Herod, ii. 66. f n>id. ii. 67. J Diod. i. 84. 



356 FEAST OF MR. FIRKINS. 

a dirty, ragged, jovial throng, but perhaps no less 
interesting to Mr. Firkins on that account, nor less 
amusing for our contemplation. Mr. Firkins was 
perfectly at home among them ; and gave them a re- 
ception worthy of his own character and that of his 
guests. Here, as elsewhere, he acted in perfect keep- 
ing with his well-established reputation, and endeav- 
oured to make an impression that would not easily 
pass away. He had hired several Arab musicians, 
vAio were mounted upon a platform placed on one 
side of the court, and supported by some empty water- 
casks. After the warmth of the salutations had a 
little subsided, the musicians, at a significant and 
lofty wave of the hand hy Mr. Firkins, struck up a 
kind of doleful overture, and began to rend the air 
with their music. When the band commenced, the 
half-naked cooks, in large white turbans, emerged 
from the greasy kitchen of the hotel, bearing upon a 
rough board a whole sheep roasted, and stuffed with 
garlic. There was also a large kettle of maccaroni 
sovtp, several baskets of bread, and a back-load of 
raw^carrots and onions. Mr. Firkins now attempted 
tC' proceed in the distribution of the sumptuous feast, 
v/ith some little decency and form ; but all his efforts 
to Jiiaintain any thing like order among his voracious 
guests, were ineffectual. The moment the cooks ad- 
vanced into the court, the hungry ragamuffins rushed 
upon them in a confused mass, overturned the soup, 
and, seizing the sheep, bread, and vegetables, began 
to tear and devour the whole, regardless of the loud 



MUSICIANS OF EGYPT. 



357 



remoDstrances of their host, and without the least 
respect for each other. 




Musicians of Egypt. 



The scene was absolutely frightful. Mr. Firkins, 
in his endeavours to restore order, had the old sheep 



358 A FIGHT FOR THE SPOILS. 

drawn around his neck by two adverse parties, pul- 
ling in opposite directions with might and main, each 
desirous to possess the rich viand. Mr. Firkins was 
at last thrown down and nearly trampled under foot. 

The noise and uproar grew more astounding every 
moment ; and as the crowd continued to quarrel 
among themselves for the mastery of the smoking 
viands and savoury dressing, they moved toward the 
band of musicians ; and at length, in their clamorous 
scuffle, rudely overturned the water-casks upon which 
rested the temporary orchestra, and tumbled the mu- 
sicians, with their corn-stalk fiddles, kettle-drums, 
tambourines, and darabookas heels over head to the 
ground. 

The fight for the spoils now became general. The 
musicians unsparingly used their broken instruments 
over the heads and shoulders of their assailants, and 
endeavoured to lay hold of some portion of the tat- 
tered sheep, which flew from hand to hand, with 
more velocity than ceremony. Corbashes, fists, 
sticks, whips, and fragments of ruined fiddles w^ere 
dealt around in profusion. The shouts and yells of 
the combatants were hideous. 

Mr. Firkins, with some difficulty, gathered himself 
up from under the feet of his guests, and made his 
escape into the hotel. The landlord, having become 
alarmed, sent for some of the Pacha's one-eyed sol- 
diers, who canie in and dispersed the mob at the 
point of the bayonet. 

This mortifying and almost tragical termination 
of Mr. Firkins's entertainment, was by no means 



WRETCHED PLIGHT OF MR. FIRKINS. 359 

flattering to his vanity, or creditable to the breeding 
of his guests. He presented a most pitiable plight 
when he came up stairs. He was besmeared with 
the grease and stuffing of the sheep from head to foot. 
He had lost his hat in the scuffle, and his coat w^as 
rent in several places. His face was covered with 
dirt and grease, and the blood was running from his 
nose. 

Mr. Dunderbhx appeared highly dehghted with the 
whole scene. He met Mr. Firkins as he entered the 
room, and critically sm'veying him from top to toe 
through his quizzing-glass, burst into a roar of laugh- 
ter. The ladies huddled around Mr. Firkins, all 
condolence ; but the figure which Mr. F. cut was so 
" very peculiar,'* that they found it absolutely impos- 
sible to maintain a respectful gravity. 

Sir D anbury Rimtaper, having hobbled down from 
the balcony where he had witnessed the strange pro- 
ceedings just terminated in the court, came up, raised 
his quizzing-glass deliberately to his eye, and after 
surveying Mr. Firkins for a moment, exclaimed, — 
" Dem me, Firkins, if this isn't the most extraordina- 
ry spectacle that I've witnessed since I've been in 
Egypt ! I never saw any one look more sheepish in 
the whole course of my life, ^pon honour !" 

Lord Scatterberry had crawled along toward the 
gathering, with his quizzing-glass swinging upon his 
breast, which he suddenly raised to his eye : then 
letting it as suddenly drop, and holding it half sus- 
pended in his right hand, said, with an air of as- 
tonishment, *' Why Firkins, is that you ? Where the 



360 THEATRICAL NOVELTY. 

d 1 have you been ? Curse me if you don't look 

as if you had been an extensive traveller in Greece /" 
The whole household was now collecting around ; 
some were condoling with the sufferer, and others 
were laughing at his misfortunes, but all were aston- 
ished at his sudden metamorphosis. 

Poor Firkins appeared to be so mortified and de- 
jected that he could not utter a word. He saw that 
ail eyes were fastened upon him, and that he was 
likely to become the butt of the whole party. He 
suddenly buttoned up his coat to his chin, pressed his 
hat over his forehead, plunged his hands deep into 
his breeches pockets, wheeled about upon his heels, 
and marched out of the room in a tornado of rage, 
from straps to whiskers ; and I never saw him from 
that day to this! Like the witches in Macbeth, he 
" melted into air ;" and, to quote a line from the wit- 
ticisms of the late Secretary of the Navy, J. K. Pauld- 
ing, Esq., nothing was ever afterward seen of him in 
Cairo, " except a grease-spot on the place where he 
stood !" 

The excitement occasioned by the disastrous ter- 
mination of Mr. Firkins's feast soon subsided ; and, 
having been presented with tickets, we accompanied 
Colonel Build erdash. Sir Danbury Rimtaper and their 
ladies, the Wrinklebottoms, and the Reverend Mr. 
Dunderblix to the theatre. 

A theatre in Cairo was a novelty. It had been 
got up by the resident Franks, in a hasty manner, to 
accommodate two or three "brief, abstract chroni- 
clers of the times'' from Italy, of whom, it is said, 



A FASHIONABLE SQUEEZE. 361 

« you had better have a bad epitaph after your death, 
than their ill report while you live." The Spanish 
consul and several other amateurs took parts in the 
performance. The house w^as crowded to suffoca- 
tion. Fortunately, however, we were accompanied 
by distinguished personages, whose rank was appre- 
ciated by the officers at the door. They forced a 
passage some how or other, so that we contrived to 
follow, and we succeeded in wedging ourselves in the 
dense mass of assembled spectators. 

The piece selected for the occasion was a kind of 
tragi-comico opera, done in barbarous Italian. The^ 
players were full of energy and gesticulation, and trod 
the stage like English gipsies and Spanish bandits. 
They raved, ranted, and bawled themselves hoarse in 
their endeavours to please the audience ; and, judging 
from the rapturous applause which they elicited, they 
succeeded to the utmost of their ambition. The spec- 
tators stamped, clapped, shouted, and often drowned 
the bellowing of the actors. They applauded every 
thing, good, bad, and indifferent ; and the whole affair 
appeared to me to be what is called, in green-room 
phrase, " a decided hit." 

We had not long mingledin the gay and joyous 
throng, before we found ourselves in a foam of per- 
spiration. The heat engendered by the vocifer- 
ous and energetic applause of the audience, inflated 
the theatre like a steam-boiler ; and rendered a va- 
pour-bath, " if not a matter of choice," as the politi- 
cians say of a national bank, " one of supreme ne- 
cessity." To get out of the house was more difficult 

Vol. L— 46 



362 



LEVANTINE COSTUME. 



than it had been to get in ; nor could we effect an 
egression from our melting situation, until an armed 
janizary penetrated the crowd with drawn sword, 
and escorted us to the door. 

This was the first night of the theatre, and all the 
"rank and fashion" of Cairo were in attendance. 
The scene was truly novel and exciting. There 
were a large number of Levantine ladies present, 




Levantine Costume. 

and their appearance was worthy of commendation. 
Some of them were beautiful. All were gorgeously 



LEVANTINE COSTUME. 



3G3 



arrayed in brilliant and rich costume. They wore 
their long glossy hair parted in front, and braided in 
numerous plaits, thickly spangled with gold orna- 
ments, and hanging at full length down the back. 
Over a red turboosh, with long tassel, spangled with 
gold, they wore a neatly-embroidered turban, adorned 
with briUiants. They also had on, over their loose 
striped raw silk dress, a short jacket of fine cloth or 
velvet, richly embroidered and faced with gold lace 
These showy habiliments of the ladies seemed to be 
in perfect keeping with the red caps and flowing 
dresses of the gentlemen ; and, all combined, they 
formed one of the most singular groups that I have 
ever witnessed. 




364 THE CONSUL'S CHAMBER. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Interviev) with the Consul at Cairo. — Description of his Avr 
dience-halL — Incidental Attack. — Egyptian Janizary. — 
Bridal Procession. — Marriage Contracts. — Match-making 
Brokers. — Bridal Dowries. — Law respecting Matrimony. 
— Wives and Concubines. — - Law of Divorce. — Blessings 
of Fruitfulness, and Curse of Barrenness. — Ancient Mar- 
riage Customs. — Cheap Mode of raising Children. 

Having several introductory letters to the elder Mr. 

G , acting consul at Cairo in the absence of his 

son, w^ho vs^as on an excursion of pleasure for the win- 
ter in the upper country, I called upon him the morn- 
ing after my arrival. It was past ten o'clock when 
we were ushered into the audience-chamber of the 
consul, but the great ''officiar was not "quite ready 
to receive." This chamber of the consul's was " a 
specimen of the tallest" room of its size that I have 
any recollection of ever entering. It was about 
twenty-five feet long by fifteen feet in width, and it 
appeared to be at least thirty feet in height. There 
was an old straw carpet on the floor, and the ceiling 
was " done off" with rough boards and palm beams. 
A wide calico divan was run round on three sides ; 
and a broad and lofty window, partly covered With 



INCIDENTAL ATTACK. . 366 

lattice-work, looked out upon a gloomy court. At the 
further end, about six feet from the floor, hung a six- 
by-eight snuff-coloured board, on which was daubed 
the eagle, and the stripes and stars of the United 
States. High above this caricature of the arms of 
my country, were suspended, in disdainful contrast, 
and in liery colours, the royal arms of Great Britain. 
In the centre of the room stood a small, low table, 
covered with a faded dusty green spread, upon which 
were a late number of the " London Times," a small 
black glass inkstand, a pewter syringe, a little piece 
of sponge, and a tall vial half filled with some kind 
of liquid resembling dirty goose-oil, with a long hen's 
feather stuck into the neck of it. These, and one old 
chair, as near as I can recollect, comprised the sum 
total of the "fixtures" of the audience-hall of the 
consul. 

I dropped down upon the divan, awaiting the 
pleasure of the " great official," and was casting my 
eyes alternately from one interesting object to anoth- 
er about the room, when my attention was most sen- 
sibly attracted by an attack made upon my right hand 
and arm, which rested upon the large cotton pillow 
at my back. I found, to my horror, that I was in a 
nest of fleas ! This seat becoming any thing but a 
bed of roses, I got up, and had strode up and down 
this lofty apartment several times, when I heard the 
mincing footsteps of the consular functionary, and 
immediately thereafter a tall, gray-headed, pursy fig- 
ure, in robe de chamhre and Turkish slippers, stood 
before me, with an inquisitive, superciUous expres- 



366^ . INTERVIEW WITH THE CONSUL. 

sion of visage, which said, as plain as look can speak, 
" To what may I attribute the honour of this unwel- 
come visit of jours at such an abominable mail-car- 
rying hour in the morning I" Here was the object 
of my search — the consular dignitary — the real 
" Baron Pompolino," as some of his friends in Alex- 
andria called him. I had had an amusing descrip- 
tion of this personage and his manners by our 
Boston acquaintance, at Alexandria. He put on an 
air of great pomposity, and appeared conceited, in- 
sincere, and vain. He was just the picture that I 
had formed in my mind, from the description I had 
already received of him. 

After a slight inclination ot the head on the part 
of " Baron Pompolino," which I respectfully returned, 
I observed to him, that I had the honour to be the 
bearer of several letters, which I came to present to 
him in person : hoping that I had not disturbed him 
by calling at so early an hour. 

Without making any reply, he took the letters, tore 
off the envelopes, and threw the pieces on the floor, 
with most " official" dignity and hauteur. He opened 
one of ths letters ; and, casting his eye down to the 
bottom, saw the name of the American minister at 
Constantinople ; and then asking me to take a seat, 
he proceeded to read them all. Having run his eyes 
over the letters in a hurried manner, he deliberately 
placed them under the pewter syringe on the table, 
near to which he drew up a chair, and commenced a 
formal string of catechetical interrogatories about my 
journey, railroads, steamboats, canals, governors, and 



A NEW ACQUAINTANCE. 367 

Statesmen ; and finally wanted to know who I thought 
would be the next President of the United States ! 

To all of the numerous interrogatives of " Baron 
Pompolino," which were put in a kind of country- 
schoolmaster style, I gave such answers as their im- 
portance seemed to demand ; after which I ventured 
to make a few inquiries about the affairs of Egypt, 
and the best mode for a stranger to pursue, wishing 
to see and become acquainted with the great objects 
of interest in that country. But in all these matters, 
although a resident of Egypt for nearly twenty years, 
he seemed about as ignorant as an old Egyptian 
mummy, just pulled out of the tombs, by some of the 
English resurrectionists, for dissection. Our interview 
soon became rather cheerless ; and after taking a lit- 
tle cup of black coffee with Monsieur le Baron, and 
receiving the stereotyped offer of " his janizary to 
conduct us round the city" — I was about to depart; 

when in came Mr. J , a citizen of the United 

States, to whom I had also a letter of introduction. 

Mr. J had been in Cairo about a year ; and 

knew something of the Arabic language, as well as 
the tricks that are played by the inhabitants upon 
strangers. He was also acquainted with all the in- 
teresting locahties in the city and vicinity ; and, being 
a man of leisure, he very obligingly offered to show 
us every thing of interest, and to aid us in making 
the necessary arrangements for our contemplated ex- 
cursion to Thebes and the cataracts of the Nile. I 
was too happy to take him at his word. But he had 
not been with us two days, when, being met by the 



368 EGYPTLiN JANIZARY. 

Egyptian janizary of the consul, he was told that, 
" by showing us the curiosities of the town, he was 
taking tlie bread out of his (the janizary's) mouth /" 

This janizary, like most other personages of simi- 
lar rank attached to the doors of foreign consulates 
in the uncivilized countries of the East, was a kind 
of armed porter, serving the consul for little or noth- 
ing, besides protection from the exactions of his own 
government, with the expectation (and possibly the 
promise) of enriching himself by thrusting his value- 
less services upon all strangers pilgrims who might, 
like ourselves, wend their way to the metropolis of 
Egypt. He could speak very little else but Arabic, and 
had the reputation of leaguing himself with his coun- 
trymen against the interests of whatever strangers 
he might have under his care. In addition to his 
share of the sums arising from the joint peculations 
of himself and all others of his nation with whom 
he might bring the stranger in contact, he expected, 
and generally received, about twenty piastres per day. 
This was the protecting genius whom the amiable 
consul proposed to place over me ; and he was not a 
little miffed, I believe, that I did not at once put 
myself and party under his banners. The obliging 
offer of Mr. J rendered that unnecessary. Ta- 
king leave of the consul, we rode down to Bulak, in 
quest of a boat and crew, for the continuance of our 
excursion up the Nile. 

After an ineffectual search for some time among 
the sailors of Bulak, we returned to Cairo. We 
were loitering among the stalls of the bazar, when 



TURKISH BAZAR. 



369 



we suddenly found ourselves wedged in on all sides, 
by a dense mass of beings of the most mixed, various, 




Turkish Bazar. 

and hideous aspect. They came upon us like the 
locusts of old, and nearly overwhelmed us before we 
found out what was the meaning of such a rush of 
men, women, children, horses, camels, dogs, and dust. 
We sought and fo«nd a safe retreat from the crush 
of the crowd, in a little nook on one side of a tinker's 
stall ; and, as the long stream of animated objects 
poured through the narrow passage, we learned that 
it was a bridal procession ! The bride was on her 
way to her future lord, whom, as yet, she had never 
seen ! She was a person of some distinction, as we 
were informed, and as a stranger even might have 
Vol. L— 47 



370 



BRIDAL PROCESSION 



supposed, from the parade and show. It were im- 
possible to give an adequate description of the singu- 
lar appearance of this strange mingled mass, as they 




moved forward to the tinkling and jarring sounds of 
music that " marred all tune," and added an exciting 
wildness to the scene. The procession was headed by 



BRIDAL PROCESSION. 



371 



some half-blind musicians. Next came a crowd of 
women, enveloped in black silk, and wearing long 
white masks. Then the bride approached. She was 




completely shrouded in an immense Cashmere shawl, 
richly embroidered round the edges, and reaching 
down to her feet. She wore a small coronet, decked 



372 



DANCING-WOMEN OF THE EAST. 



with brilliants, and was led by two women in long 
white masks, and dressed in black silk. The bride 
and her attendants walked along at a slow pace, un- 
der an ample canopy, supported by four old men. 
Then came more musicians, two of whom were beat- 
ing upon two kettle-drums each, and mounted upon 
camels. After these, followed a crowd of old men. 
A fantastically- dressed individual on stilts now ap- 
peared in the procession. The stilts were about six 
feet in height, so that, as the fellow strided through 
the bazar, his feet were on a level with the heads of 
the tallest persons. Another crowd of old men and 
boys succeeded the gentleman on stilts ; after whom 
bounded a number of dancing-girls, begging, dancing, 
and playing upon tambourines. 




Dancing-women of the East. 



A noble Arabian horse, splendidly caparisoned, and 
led by his groom, now appeared. Another beautiful 



MARRIAGE CONTRACTS. 373 

horse, led also by a groom, and as pompously deco- 
rated as the first, next came, rode by a small boy, 
gayly dressed and supported by two men, who slowly 
walked on each side. Tbe boy was followed by a 
kind of gilded ark, borne upon men's shoulders. Then 
came another camel, and more men ; and the uproar, 
dust, and abomination succeeded, and made up alto- 
gether, as Sir D anbury Rimtaper would have said, 
" the most extraordinary spectacle that I had seen 
since I came into Egypt, 'pon honour !" 

The bride had previously been to the bath with 
great form, according to custom. The marriage con- 
tract had been performed at the house of the bride, 
by proxy on her part, and she was now being con- 
ducted to her destined home. Her intended was no 
less in the dark respecting the personal charms of the 
object of his affections, than she was in regard to 
those of him under whose protection she was about 
to place herself. 

So discreetly is the marriage arrangement con- 
ducted in Egypt, that the intended parties can scarce- 
ly obtain a glance of each other, even by stealth, un- 
less they belong to the lower classes ; in which case, 
the bridegroom may generally see the face of his 
intended without much difficulty. But should they 
unfortunately move in the " higher circles," the bride- 
groom would be quite ignorant of the value of his 
prize until she was absolutely in his possession. One 
would naturally suppose that the husband about to 
lift the veil for the first time from the face of his bride, 
must experience feelings of a pecuUar nature ; and 



374 MARRIAGE-BROKERS. 

should he be a youth whose glowing fancy had pic- 
tured to his mind an object of surpassing beauty, the 
state of his feelings, on raising the veil from his wife, 
should she chance to be a person of exceeding ugli- 
ness, may be more easily imagined than described. 

Marriage contracts in Egypt are generally effected 
through the agency of near relations, or a class of 
individuals who may not inappositely be termed mar- 
riage-brokers. The parties to be united rarely or 
never have any thing to do with the preUminaries or 
the final accomplishment of the marriage agreement, 
farther than to authorize their lawful agents to enter 
upon negotiations for that purpose. Most commonly 
the mother, sister, or some other near female relative, 
describes the personal attractions and quahfications 
of some one of her acquaintances to the man desi- 
rous to be married, and makes the selection for him. 
Should he have no female relatives to whom he could 
confide this important commission, the order is placed 
in the hands of a woman, whose regular occupation 
is to aid men in search of the " better half" 

The commission given by Abraham to his eldest 
servant,* who was to obtain a wife for Isaac, was not 
dissimilar, perhaps, to the mode of procedure in many 
cases in Egypt at the present day. 

The marriage-broker visits the various harems, 
where she does not fail to be introduced to all the 
inmates who are of marriageable age. She then re- 
turns to her employer with an account of her dis- 
coveries. She represents some of the ladies that she 

* Gen. xxiv. 



MARRIAGE PORTIONS. 376 

has seen as possessing great beauty ; others, not so 
attractive in personal charms, but rich. The man 
desirous of obtaining a wife, if satisfied with her re- 
port, makes her a present, and sends her back to the 
family of the object of his choice, to acquaint them 
of his request. She gives an exaggerated account 
of his wealth, beauty, and excellent qualities. " For 
instance, she will say of a very ordinary young man, 
of scarcely any property, and of whose disposition she 
knows nothing, ' My daughter, the youth who wishes 
to marry you is young, graceful, elegant, beardless, has 
plenty of money, dresses handsomely, is fond of deli- 
cacies, but cannot enjoy his luxuries alone ; he wants 
you as his companion ; he will give you any thing 
that money can procure ; he is a stayer-at-home, and 
will spend his whole time with you, caressing and 
fondling you.' The parents may betroth their daugh- 
ter to whom they please, and marry her to him with- 
out her consent, if she be not arrived to the age of 
puberty ; but, after she has attained that age, she may 
choose a husband for herself, and appoint any man to 
arrange and effect the marriao^e.""^ 

A marriage portion must in all cases be paid by the 
bridegroom to his wife. Generally, however, only 
a part of it is paid before the marriage contract is 
performed ; the balance being reserved to be handed 
over to the wife at the time she may be divorced 
(should that event happen), or at the death of the 
husband, should she survive him. The amount of 
the bridal dowry depends upon the wealth of the 

* Lane's Modern Egyptians, i. 216, 217. 



376 BRIDAL DOWRIES. 

parties to be married, and is usually a subject of some 
higgling on the part of those who negotiate the match. 
A much larger sum is usually demanded at first by 
the friends of the bride, than she expects to receive ; 
while the agent of the bridegroom is instructed to 
offer an amount considerably below what he is wil- 
ling ultimately to give. But after a little chaffering 
over the matter, the bargain is clinched at a price 
somewhere between the amounts already named; 
and both parties doubtless enjoy the silent satisfac- 
tion of believing that they have made an excellent 
bargain. 

If the parties are in decent circumstances, and en- 
joying an income competent to a respectable style 
of living, a dowry of about one hundred dollars is 
considered a handsome thing ; though sometimes, un- 
der similar circumstances, scarcely half that amount 
is given. This, however, applies only to females in 
their first marriage, or virgin brides ; while those who 
may have been once or oftener divorced, or widows, 
receive a much smaller amount. 

When the parents or friends of the bride are in 
prosperous circumstances, she is usually presented at 
the time of her marriage with a decent outfit of fur- 
niture, jewels, and dresses ; all of which are paraded 
through the streets on camels, and form a part of the 
bridal procession. But where the bride happens to 
be of the lower classes, her parents generally make 
as good a bargain as they can for themselves, pocket 
the marriage dowry, and return very little else to the 
bridegroom except his bride. 



LAW RESPECTING MATRIMONY. 377 

This would seem to be scarcely more honourable 
than the ancient custom that prevailed among the 
Assyrians, if so much so ; who, says Herodotus, " as- 
sembled together such of their virgins as were mar- 
riageable, at an appointed time and place, and some 
public officer sold them by auction, one by one, be- 
ginning with the most beautiful. When one was 
disposed of, and, as may be supposed, for a consid- 
erable sum, he proceeded to sell the one who was 
next in beauty, taking it for granted that each man 
7narried the maid he purchased. The crier, when he 
had sold the fairest, selected next the most ugly, or 
one that w^as deformed ; she also was put up to sale, 
and assigned to whomsoever would take her with the 
least money. This money was what the sale of the 
most beautiful maidens had produced, who were thus 
obliged to portion out those who were deformed, or 
less lovely than themselves. No man was permitted 
to provide a match for his daughter, nor could any 
one take away the woman he had purchased, without 
first giving security to make her his wife^* 

" The law respecting marriage and concubinage, 
though express as to the number of wives whom the 
Moslem may have at the same time, namely, fouVy is 
not considered by the less strict as perfectly explicit 
with regard to the number of concubines he may 
keep. It is written : * Take in marriage, of the wo- 
men who please you, two, three, or four ; but if ye 
fear that ye cannot act equitably [to so many], take 
one ; or take those whom your right hands have ac- 

• Herod, i. 196. 

Vol. L— 48 



378 ANCIENT MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 

quired,' that is, slaves, (Koran, chap. iv. 5, 3.) Many 
of the weaUhy Moslems, interpreting this text ac- 
cording to their desires, marry two, three, or four 
wives, and keep, besides, several concubine slaves."* 
With the exception of the priests, who could only 
marry one, it was the custom of the ancient Egyp- 
tians, says Diodorus, " to have as many wives as they 
pleased ; and all were bound to bring up as many chil- 
dren as they could, for the further increase of the in- 
habitants, which tends much to the well-being either 
of a city or country ."f 

Notwithstanding this liberal license, however, He- 
rodotus informs us that the ancient Egyptians, " hke 
the Greeks, confined themselves to one wife."J This 
assertion is nevertheless contradicted : " That the 
Greeks did not confine themselves to one wife, we 
learn from certain authority. Euripides was known 
to be a woman-hater; *but,' says Hume, *it was be- 
cause he was coupled to two noisy vixens.' " 

" Of the marriage contracts of the Egyptians," says 
Wilkinson, " we are entirely ignorant, nor do we find 
the ceremony represented in the paintings of their 
tombs. We may, however, conclude that they were 
regulated by the customs usual among civihzed na- 
tions."§ 

The strange custom of marrying brothers and sis- 
ters was not uncommon in Egypt in her most en- 
lightened days. And the marriage of Osiris and 
Isis,|l the revered deities of Egypt, who were also 

* Lane's Modern Egyptians, i. 137. f Diod. i. 82. 

t Herod, ii. 92. Vide note 172. § "Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii. 58. 

II Diod. i. 27-32. 



ANCIENT MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 379 

brother and sister, is supposed to have given pecuhar 
authority and sanctity to this practice. 

" Many individuals, even among the priesthood of 
early Pharaonic periods, are found, from the sculp 
tures of Thebes, to have married their sisters ; and 
the same authorities agree with the accounts of an- 
cient Greek and Roman writers, in proving that some 
of the Ptolemies adopted this ancient custom."* 
This custom doubtless prevailed among the people 
of Abraham, who also married his sister, and said of 
his wife, "And yet indeed she is my sister : she is the 
daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my 
mother : and she became my wife."f 

The Athenians, likewise, who " were a colony of 
the Saites, which came out of Egypt," J are said to 
have adopted the Egyptian custom of marrying bro- 
ther and sister ;§ and the connexion of Jupiter and 
Juno, who were reported to be brother and sister, 
was no doubt derived from the fabulous account of 
Osiris and Isis. Herodotus says, that before Cam- 
byses, " no Persian had ever been known to marry 
his sister ; but he, being passionately fond of one of 
his, married the sister he loved, and not long after- 
ward a second. The younger of these, who accom- 
panied him to Egypt, he put to death."|| 

Many of the modern Egyptians do not avail them- 
selves of the full extent of their religious license, which 
allows them four wives ; arid still more dispense with 
the addition of slaves and concubines. Some, for 

♦ Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, i. 385. 

t Gen. XX. 12. | Diod. i. 34. § Herod, ill. 31, note. It Ibid. iii. 31. 



380 LAW OF DIVORCE. 

the sake of domestic peace, or other reasons, content 
themselves with one or two wives, and keep no slaves 
or concubines at all. Others prefer to keep one or 
more female slaves, and dispense with the more ex- 
pensive establishment of the wives altogether. 

It is usual for each wife, when there are more than 
one, to occupy separate rooms ; and even with these 
arrangements, the jealousies that frequently spring up 
in the harem render the estabhshment more like Bed- 
lam, than the quiet abode of the Christian, wdio is 
satisfied with one wife. " Though a man restrict 
himself to a single wife, he may change as often as 
he desires ; and there are certainly not many men in 
Cairo who have not divorced one wife, if they have 
been long married. The husband may, whenever he 
pleases, say to his wife, * Thou art divorced :' if it 
be his wish, whether reasonable or not, she must re- 
turn to her parents or friends."* 

The liability of a wife to be turned off at any mo- 
ment by her husband, and in very frequent instances 
to be cast out destitute upon the world, occasions 
more uneasiness among the Egyptian women than 
any other circumstance attending their degraded lives. 
Sometimes, however, the consoling hope of being able 
to better their condition in a second, third, or fourth 
marriage, as the case may be, quite balances the poig- 
nancy consequent upon a divorcement. They occa- 
sionally seize with avidity the first opportunity that 
offers for their legal separation. 

Instances have occurred, where the husband, hav- 

• Lane's Modern Egyptians, i. 247. 



BLESSINGS OF FRUITFULNESS. 381 

ing divorced his wife in a passion, wished, in a cooler 
moment, to recall his hasty words ; but she, desirous 
of being released from the annoyance of his caprice 
and tyranny, and to try her fortune again in a new 
alliance, refused to return to him, and availed her- 
self of the legal steps for continuing the separation. 

A woman may be legally taken back by her hus- 
band after a divorcement, provided she has not been 
divorced by him more than twice. After a third di- 
vorce, however, she cannot be legally taken to wife 
again by him who has thus divorced her, until she 
first be married to another husband ; and, having been 
divorced by him, she may then return to her first 
love, and marry her old husband, who has already 
thrice turned her adrift upon the world. 

" The estimation in which the wife is held by her 
husband and acquaintance, depends in a great degree 
upon her fruitfulness, and upon the preservation of 
her children. By all classes, rich and poor, barren- 
ness is still considered in the East a curse and a re- 
proach ; and it is regarded as disgraceful in a man to 
divorce, without some cogent reason, a wife who has 
borne him a child, especially while her child is living. 
If, therefore, a woman desire her husband's love, or 
the respect of others, her giving birth to a child is a 
source of great joy to herself and him ; and her own 
interest alone is a sufficient motive for maternal ten- 
derness. Very little expense is required, in Egypt, 
for the maintenance of a numerous offspring."* In- 
deed, so great a blessing and honour is the bearing of 
many children considered by both sexes in the East, 

• Lane's Modem Egyptians, i. 80. 



382 CARE OF CHILDREN. 

that a higher or more flattering compliment could 
hardly be paid to a young lady than to wish her well 
married, and that she may be the mother of a large 
number of children. 

On the birth of a child, it is usual for the friends 
of the mother to make her presents, in proportion to 
their means and standing. This is generally in mon- 
ey ; and if the child happen to be a son, a good piece 
of money is given, and if a daughter be the issue, it 
is the custom to present a bad piece, or one of very 
trifling value. 

One would naturally suppose that the importance 
which Egyptian customs attach to fruitfulness of mo- 
thers, and the preservation of their offspring, would 
induce them to be exceedingly watchful over their 
health and comfort, until they were no longer under 
their control. Such, I believe, among the more weal- 
thy Egyptians is the case ; and I have been informed 
that their children are often spoiled by confinement 
and efleminate indulgence. But the children which 
are seen running about the villages of Egypt, often 
in a state of nudity, present the most neglected ap- 
pearance imaginable. 

Anciently, it is said to have cost very little to raise 
children in Egypt. " Owing to the warmth of the 
climate, they required few clothes, and young chil- 
dren were in the habit of going without shoes, and 
with little or no covering to their bodies ; and so tri- 
fling was the expense of bringing up a child, that it 
never need cost a parent more than thirteen shilhngs, 
English, until arrived at man's estate."* 

• Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii. 53. 



PEASANT WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 



383 



" They bring up their children," says Diodorus, 
with very httle cost, and are sparing upon that ac- 




Peasant Women and Children of Egypt. 

count to admiration : for they provide for them broth, 
made of mean and poor stuff, that may easily be had ; 
and feed those that are of strength able to bear it, 



384 CHEAP MODE OF RAISING CHILDREN. 

with the pith of buh'ushes, roasted in the embers, and 
with roots and herbs got in the fens ; sometimes raw, 
and sometimes boiled, and at other times fried and 
hoiled. Most of their children go barefooted and 
naked, tlie chmate is so warm and temperate. It 
costs not the parent, to bring up a child to man's es- 
tate, above twenty drachms."* 

Such seems to have been the mode of treatment 
pursued by the ancient Egyptians toward their chil- 
dren. It is much the same with the moderns ; and, 
judging from appearances, I should say that in the 
common run, it can hardly cost more to raise a child 
in Egypt at the present day, than was required for 
that purpose two thousand years ago. 

* Diod. i. 82. 




INVITATION FROM DR. O'SQUEEBEY. 



385 




Interior of an Egyptian Tomb, and a Violator of the Dead. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Politeness and Accomplishments of Dr. O^Squeebey. — Dis- 
section of a Mummy. — Present for the Ladies. — Untoward 
Accident. — Painful Situation of the Wrinklehottoms. — 
Sir D anbury Rimiaper sensibly touched. — Violators of the 
Tombs. — Their Condemnation. — Description of the Egyp^ 
tian Mode of Embalming. — Veneration of the Ancients 
for the Dead. — Invocation for the Rites of Burial. 

Not long after our arrival in Cairo, we received 
an invitation from Doctor O'Squeebey to accompany 
his friends the Rimtapers, Builderdashes, Wrinkle- 
bottoms, and the Reverend Mr. Dunderblix to the 
Egyptian Library, to witness the dissection of a 
mummy. 

Doctor O'Squeebey was a thorough-going rene 
gade — that is, so far as related to the costume and 
religion of his native country. He was perfectly 
au fait with the Arab dress, and their manners and 

Vol. T. — 49 



386 ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF DR. O'SQUEEBEY. 

customs. He mounted the red turboosh and flowing 
turban ; the gay sash, and Turkish shoes ; the heavy 
pistols, and hanging sabre. He sat cross-legged at 
his meals, ate with his fingers, and smoked the hoo- 
• kah. He put on, as occasion required, so much of 
the rehgion of the Prophet as circumstances and his 
interest seemed to demand : otherwise he did not trou- 
ble himself much about serious matters. He was pro- 
fessedly a zealous emancipationist ; but a great ty- 
rant in a small way. The only thing he admired in 
his own country, was its equifahle system of govern- 
ment. He revered the nobility, loved the Queen, and 
gloried in the exalted idea of still being able to name 
himself among " her Majesty's most loyal subjects." 
He had passed many years in Egypt, and was es- 
teemed the most accomplished phlebotomist and bhs- 
terer in the country. His skill in the latter depart- 
ment surpassed all praise, and his reputation in the 
former made the blood of the Egyptians run cold at 
the very thought of him. With such a reputation, 
and sentiments so exalted, he could not fail to make 
an impression, alike gratifying to his own feelings, 
and enviable in the eyes of his countrymen. Nor 
did his bearing toward others indicate any ignorance, 
on his part, of the important position which he occu- 
pied in the elevated circle that he adorned. To his 
regular profession of practitioner, Spanish-fly dealer, 
and pill-merchant, he added the collateral occupation, 
so common to his countrymen in the East, of tomb- 
robber and relic-vender. He boasted of having ran- 
sacked every ancient sepulchre that has yet been dis- 



O'SQUEEBEY IN THE CHARNEL-HOUSE. 387 

covered throughout the vale of the Nile, from Alex- 
andria to the cataracts. His " scientific researches" 
among the tombs of the old Egyptians had been at- 
tended with abundant success, and he was master of 
the most choice and extensive collection of mummied 
cats, dogs, snakes, hawks, and lizards ; images, band- 
ages, incense-pots, jars, jugs, and other fragments of 
the dead, that had been gathered by any former viola- 
tor of the tombs. The success which had thus far 
rewarded his labours, had only served to increase his 
admiration for the antique, and to fire his ambitious 
thirst after new discoveries and more unlimited plun- 
der in the silent abodes of the dead. He was still 
pushing his operations with a lively assiduity ; and 
scarcely a day passed, when he did not knock to 
pieces one or more old mummy, and pulverize the 
whole mass in his fingers, in search of little images, 
rings, or other relics, that are frequently discovered 
about the bodies of the ancient Egyptians. Indeed, 
the business of tearing off the grave-clothes and 
breaking up the mysterious remains, had become an 
occupation so regular with him, that his love for 
it amounted to a passion. He was perfectly wed- 
ded to it. It was a second nature to him. He could 
no more exist, deprived of this delightful employ- 
ment, than Mr. Sneezebiter could survive the loss of 
his snakes. In short, Doctor O'Squeebey and Mr. 
Sneezebiter were two of the most eminent and dis- 
tinguished personages in their particular pursuits that 
were to be found in the country. Mr. Sneezebiter in 
the snake line, and Doctor O'Squeebey in violating 



388 DISSECTION OF A MUMMY. 

the tombs, left all competitors in the distance, and 
they enjoyed a reputation which none, not even the 
most envious, had the hardihood to dispute. 

Being aware of the frequency with which Doctor 
O'Squeebey broke up the old mummies, Mrs. Wrin- 
klebottom and her amiable daughters had more than 
hinted a desire to be present to witness the operation. 
The obhging doctor, with a spirit of gallantry worthy 
of his own reputation, and characteristic of his coun- 
trymen, did not fail to take the earliest opportunity 
possible to gratify the wishes of the Wrinklebottoms 
and the other English travellers, and he had the kind- 
ness to give us an invitation also to join the brilliant 
party, and witness the destruction of the mummy. 

The hour appointed for this exhibition was twelve 
o'clock, noon ; and all were requested to be punctual 
at the time, as the dissection would commence pre- 
cisely at the above-mentioned hour. We had a few 
trifling articles to pick up in the bazai*that morning, 
and loitered away so much of our time, that we did 
not return to the hotel in season to accompany our 
English friends to the library. When we arrived 
there, we found them all assembled ; and the opera- 
tion about to commence. The subject for dissec- 
tion was evidently a man of more than the ordina- 
ry size, and was thrown down upon his back in the 
centre of the court of the library. Doctor O'Squee- 
bey, in a commanding attitude, stood at the head of 
the mummy, with an old Arab, leaning upon the han- 
dle of a rusty axe, at his side. The Rimtapers, Buil- 
derdashes, Wrinklebottoms, the Reverend Mr. Dun- 



PRESENTS TO THE LADIES. 



389 



derblix, and several other English travellers had 
formed a hollow square about the mummy, and 
stood w4th then* quizzing-glasses raised, and so in- 
tent upon the interesting subject before them, that 
our arrival did not interrupt their fixed regard, nor 
disturb in the least the solemnity of their meditations. 
It was then a few minutes past twelve ; and the dis- 
section would have been already commenced, had 
not a succinct preliminary account of the art of em- 
balming, which the doctor was then delivering to the 
estimable group, delayed it. 

The doctor's remarks w^ere pronounced in a deep, 
sonorous tone of voice ; and, judging from the appear- 
ance of his hearers, their effect was interesting and 
impressive. They were, however, brought to a close 
as we joined the circle, and the doctor ordered the 
Arab to commence operations. 

The Arab raised his axe, smote off the head of 
the mummy, cut it in pieces, and knocked out the 
teeth. " These," said the doctor, taking the teeth in 
his hand, " are capital for setting ;" and then put them 
in his pocket. The work of demolition was contin- 
ued. The bandages were removed from the legs and 
arms ; and the feet and hands being laid bare, the 
nails of each w^ere found to be gilded with great care. 
The ladies, seeing these, were suddenly seized with 
a taste for forming collections ; and begged some por- 
tion of the gilded feet and hands, as mementoes of 
the occasion. These requests were readily granted 
by the doctor, who proceeded to deal out the shat- 
tered fragments of the dead to the ladies, as cheer- 



390 PROGRESSIVE DEMOLITION OF THE MUMMY. 

fully as Italians distribute flowers at a fete or an an- 
niversary of a saint. Mrs. Builderdash and daugh- 
ter received one of the hands and some of the ban- 
dages. The Misses Rimtaper were presented with 
the other hand and a jawbone ; while to the Wrin- 
klebottoms were presented both feet and a fragment 
of some other part — but what it was, the distance 
between them and myself, and the hurried manner in 
which they concealed it, rendered it impossible for 

me to determine The distribution having taken 

place, and the acknowledgments of the ladies having 
been returned to Doctor O'Squeebey, the further de- 
struction of the mummy was resumed. The Arab 
now gave a heavy blow upon the breast, and laid 
open the trunk of the body. Nothing extraordinary, 
however, was discovered by this development ; and, 
contrary to the general expectation, no images, rings, 
or valuable ornaments whatever were found, though 
the doctor was indefatigable in the examination, — 
crumbling the particles and fragments in his fingers, 
and shaking the rags and patches, as they were 
stripped off, with the most scrutinizing search. With 
the exception of occasional exclamations of surprise, 
an almost profound silence reigned among the spec- 
tators. 

Sir Danbury had pronounced it " a demmed extra- 
ordinary spectacle, 'pon honour ;" and Mr. Wrinkle- 
bottom thought the fragments which had been pre- 
sented to his ladies " were decidedly most capital spe- 
cimens." Very little else had been uttered by any 
one ; and all eyes and glasses were most intently riv- 



AN UNTOWARD ACCIIENT. 391 

eted upon the work of destruction. The old Arab 
had knocked off the arms and legs, and broken the 
upper part of the body to pieces ; and was endeav- 
ouring to shatter the more obdurate and compact part 
across the hips. He had given this several smait 
blows, but it still remained inflexible. At last, as if 
piqued at the slight effect of the blows already in- 
flicted, the old man raised his weapon to a more ele- 
vated and determined point, bit his lips, and brought 
down his axe with all his strength. This last unfor- 
tunate attack was a side stroke ; and, most sad to re- 
late, it missed the object at which it was aimed, and 
the axe, flying from the hands of the Arab, struck 
Mrs. Wrinklebottom a most violent blow on one of 
her legs ! On the occurrence of this accident, the 
whole party were thrown into a state of painful con- 
sternation. Mrs. Wrinklebottom uttered a frightful 
scream, fell helpless upon the ground, and said " she 
was a dead woman !" One of the Misses Wrinkle- 
bottom swoojQed, and the other was so overcome with 
fright as to be nearly insensible. Doctor O'Squee- 
bey was so much incensed at this awkward stroke of 
the Arab, that he drew his sabre and threatened to 
cut him down on the spot ! Possibly he would 
have carried his threat into execution, had not the 
old Arab taken to his heels and run away. Mr. 
Wrinklebottom was in great trepidation. His ladies 
and their mummy fragments were all scattered upon 
the ground, and to all appearance, two of the ladies 
were in the agonies of death ! He seized hold of 
Mrs. Wrinklebottom, and endeavoured to raise her in 



392 DISTRESS OF THE WRINKLEBOTTOMS. 

his arms. The Builderdashes, at the same moment 
rushed forward and offered then- assistance ; but it 
seemed to be of Uttle use. The Reverend Mr. Dun- 
derbhx, in making commendable efforts to lend a 
helping hand, unfortunately came down with an iron- 
shod boot and the whole weight of his body upon 
the lame foot of Sir Danbury Rimtaper ! Sir Dan- 
bury let his glass drop from his eye, and danced 
about the court with painful agility. He swore " it 
was the most extraordinary spectacle that he had 
ever seen. Dem me," said he, " I believe we are all 
to be martyred on the spot, 'pon honour !" The 
uproar, fright, and confusion that prevailed among us 
for a few moments were very great. However, we at 
length mustered sufificient presence of mind to pick 
up the ladies who had fallen, and convey them into 
the library. Mr. Wrinklebottom caught up a pitcher 
of cold water that stood upon the table, and dashed 
the whole of it into the face of the Miss Wrinkle- 
bottom who had fainted, and she revived. Some 
slight restoratives, which Doctor O'Squeebey hap- 
pened to have about him, being administered to Mrs. 
Wrinklebottom, she came to herself sufficiently to 
permit a partial examination of her wound. Her leg 
was found to have been struck a violent blow by the 
head of the axe, a httle above the knee. The con- 
tusion was very severe. The skin had already be- 
come much discoloured, and the part began to swell. 
It seemed to be the opinion of Doctor O'Squeebey, 
at first, that the bone was fractured. She was in 
great agony ; and a litter being brought, she was car- 
ried to the hotel for a more thcrough examin alien. 



SACRILEGIOUS VIOLATION. 393 

Among the greatest curiosities of Egypt, a country 
where almost every object is pecuhar to a degree 
which often strikes the traveller with surprise, the 
embalmed bodies of the ancient inhabitants, and their 
extraordinary preservation for a period of more than 
thirty centuries, through all the changes and convul- 
sions of nature, and the ruthless revolutions of man, 
may. perhaps be considered the most remarkable. 

The gilding and colours upon the coffins are still 
fresh, and the wood of which they were constructed 
exhibits no indication of decay. Raise the lid ! — 
There is the body of the silei^t inmate, preserved in 
perfect form. The bandages, though browned with 
age, are yet entire ; and the mysterious writing upon 
the historical roll of papyrus resting upon the breast, 
is still legible. The head, the hair, the teeth, the 
arms, the legs, the hands, the feet, the skin, the 
bones, the sinews are all preserved, and the whole 
mortal fabric is there, laid in its narrow house, 
wrapped in the habiliments of the grave, with all the 
care and neatness that friendship could dictate, or 
art achieve. These sad but astonishing remains 
of a civihzed and enlightened people, having for a 
period of more than three thousand years been per- 
mitted the sanctity and repose of death's long, cold 
sleep, are now rudely torn from their silent tombs, 
where they were laid by the hands of piety and af- 
fection ! their coffin-shrouds sacrilegiously stripped 
away ; their triffing trinkets filched by the spoiler ; 
and their naked bodies crumbled and scattered to 
the winds by Christian hands ! 

Vol. L — 50 



394 SENTIMENTS OF PAUSANIAS. 

How Strangely does this wanton and sacrilegious 
feeling ol those who are ambitious to be numbered 
among the inhabitants of Christian natians, contrast 
with the high and noble feelings of respect for the 
dead evinced by the ancients ! 

Who can wander through the extensive halls of 
the British Museum, and there witness the cart-loads 
of dead bodies, coffins, and grave-clothes filched from 
the tombs of Egypt by the English tomb-violators, 
untouched by the just sentiments of their country- 
man, who, in reference to such outrages upon the 
grave, has said : — , 

'' What guilt 
Can equal violations of the dead ? 
The dead, how sacred ! — sacred is the dust 
Of this heaven-laboured form !"* 

The scorn and indignation with which Pausanias 
received the advice of his noble friend of iEgina, 
Lampon, who proposed to the Spartan conqueror at 
the battle of Plataea to offer the same indignities to 
the body of Mardonius which Mardonius and Xerxes 
inflicted upon the remains of his uncle Leonidas, who 
was slain at Thermopylae, strikingly indicates the ab- 
horrence with which every violation of the dead, not 
of theij- friends only, but even of those of their ene- 
mies, was looked upon by the ancient Greeks. 

"Friend of JEgina," replied Pausanias, " I thank 
you for your good intentions, and commend your fore- 
sight ; but what you say, violates every principle of 
equity. After elevating me, my country, and this re- 
cent victory to the summit of fame, you again de- 

• Dr. Young's Complaint, Night iii. !90. 



ANCIENT MODE OF EMBALMING. 395 

# 

press us to infamy, in recommending me to inflict 
vengeance on the dead. You say, indeed, that by 
such an action I shall exalt my character ; but I think 
it more consistent with the conduct of barbarians 
than of Greeks, as it is one of those things for which 
we reproach them." And he said, in conclusion- — 
" I would advise you in future, having these senti- 
ments, to avoid my presence ; and I would have you 
think it a favour, that I do not punish you."* 

The same sentiment has often been expressed by 
ancient and modern authors. Homer says, — 

" T' insult the dead is cruel and unjust." 

The Egyptian art of embalming is supposed to 
have been lost. Some accounts of the process, how^- 
ever, given by ancient authors who travelled in Egypt 
and became acquainted with their manners and cus- 
toms, when this art was successfully practised, are 
still extant ; and it is not a little curious and interest- 
ing to examine them. 

Herodotusf informs us that the Egyptians had three 
modes of embalming. The first and most expensive 
was only adopted in embalming the bodies of distin- 
guished personages and those of ample fortunes. In 
cases of this kind, the brain was extracted through the 
nostrils by an infusion of a certain kind of drug, and 
by means of crooked iron instruments made for that 
purpose. The intestines were taken out through an 
incision made in the side, and thoroughly cleansed, 
washed with palm wine, and then sprinkled with 

* Herod, ix. 79. t Ibid. ii. 85-87. 



396 ANCIENT MODE OF EMBALMING. 

powdered ai'omatics. The body was afterward filled 
with the powder of pure myrrh, cassia, and other 
perfumes. . Being then sewed up, it was covered with 
nitre, and lay in that state during the space of sev- 
enty days. It was then washed and closely wrapped 
in bandages of cotton saturated with a Hquid gum, 
used by the Egyptians as glue. In this condition 
it was returned to the relatives or friends of the 
deceased, who enclosed it in a wooden case having 
the resemblance of the human figure, and placed it 
against the wall in some apartment of the house ap- 
propriated to that use, or it was immediately depos- 
ited in the family tomb. This was the most costly 
style of embalming practised among the Egyptians. 

Another mode, which was much less expensive, 
though attended with equal success, was adopted in 
embalming the bodies of those in more moderate and 
less pretending circumstances. In cases of this kind, 
no incision was made in the body, nor were the in- 
testines drawn out, as in the above-mentioned in- 
stance. An unguent, made from the cedar, was in- 
jected into the body, and proper means being used 
to prevent the escape of the injected oil, it was then 
covered with nitre for the space of seventy days. At 
the expiration of this period, the liquor introduced 
into the body by injection was withdrawn, and the 
bowels and intestines came away with it. The nitre 
having eaten away the flesh, nothing remained but 
the skin and bones. In this state the body was re- 
turned to the relations, and no further care or expense 
was bestowed upon it by the embalmers. 



ANCIENT MODE OF EMBALMING. 397 

The poor were embalmed in a manner far less 
costly even than this. A particular kind of ablution 
having been passed through the body, it was laid in 
nitre the usual time of seventy days ; after which it 
was taken out and cleansed, and then returned to 
the hands whence it had been received. 

The account given by Diodorus,* though shghtly 
varying in some particulars from the description of 
Herodotus, is nevertheless strongly confirmatory of 
what is said by the latter concerning the Egyptian 
mode of embalming, and is even more minute. He 
informs us that forty, instead of seventy days, were 
required for the process of embalming; and he is 
borne out in this assertion by the following Scriptural 
account given of the embalming and burial of Jacob : 
"And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians 
to embalm his father : and the physicians embalmed 
Israel. And forty days were fulfilled for him (for so 
are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed), 
and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and 
ten days."t 

The bodies of the dead were considered so sacred 
by the ancient Egyptians, that the least injury inflict- 
ed upon them, even by the embalmers, was sure to 
bring down the indignation of the people. The in- 
cision made in the side for the extraction of the in- 
testines, required in the most costly mode of embalm- 
ing, was made with " an Ethiopian stone ;"{ and the 
person whose duty it was to inflict this necessary 
wound was supposed to have offered an indignity, 

• Diod. i. 90. t Gen. 1. 2, 3. % Diod. i. 91. 



398 ANCIENT MODE OF EMBALMING. 

and to have caused an injury to the body of the de- 
ceased ; and immediately upon cutting so much of 
the flesh as was prescribed by law, he ran away, 
might and main, and all persons that were present 
pursued him with execrations, and pelted him with 
stones, as if he were guilty of some horrid offence ; 
for they looked upon him as a hateful person, as also 
upon all who offered violence to a dead body, or did 
it any injury whatever. "As soon as they come to 
the wounded body," says Diodorus, " one of the em- 
balmers thrusts up his hand through the wound, into 
the dead, and draws out all the intestines, but the 
reins and the heart. Another cleanses all the bowels, 
and washes them in Phoenician wine, mixed with di- 
vers aromatic spices. Having at last washed the body, 
they first anoint it all over with the oil of cedar and 
other precious ointments for the space of forty days 
together ; that done, they rub it well witl* myrrh, cin- 
namon, and such like things, not only apt and effec- 
tual for long preservation, but for the sweet scenting of 
the body also, and so deliver it to the kindred of the 
dead, with every member so whole and entire, that 
no part of the body seems to be altered, till it come 
to the very hair of the eyelids and the eyebrows, in- 
somuch that the beauty and shape of the face seems 
just as it was before. By which means, many of the 
Egyptians laying up the bodies of their ancestors in 
stately monuments, perfectly see the true visage and 
countenance of those that were buried many ages 
before they themselves were born."* 

* Diod. i. 91. 



ANCIENT VENERATION FOR THE DEAD. 399 

Another singular custom which prevailed among 
the Egyptians was, as Herodotus says — "At the en- 
tertainments of the rich, just as the company was 
about to rise from the repast, a small coffin was car- 
ried round, containing a perfect representation of a 
dead body : it was in size sometimes of one, but never 
of more than two cubits, and as it was shown to the 
guests in rotation, the bearer exclaimed, ' Cast your 
eyes on this figure : after death, you yourself will re- 
semble it ; drink then and be happy/ Such were the 
customs they observed at their entertainments."* 

The veneration and respect for their departed kin- 
dred, imposed by the natural ties of blood, and the 
powerfuLpromptings of their religion, doubtless re- 
ceived no trifling stimulus among the Egyptians in 
thus honouring their dead, from the fact of its being 
lawful among them to pledgef the mummied body of 
a parent or friend to a creditor for debts or loans of 
money. In case of pledging the dead bodies of their 
friends, the creditor took possess^ion of the family 
tomb, and held it until the liquidation of his claim ; 
and so disreputable was it considered among them 
not to redeem this. sacred deposite, that those who 
were guilty of it could not be buried themselves in 
the family tomb, or any other vault, nor could they 
bury any one of their descendants.! Such as were 
in debt, were denied the right of burial ; and their 
dead bodies might be attached and held by their cred- 
itors until their kindred came forward and discharged 
the claims against them. If T am not very much mis- 

• Herod, ii. 78. f Diod. i. 92. J Herod, ii. 136. 



400 ANCIENT VENERATION FOR THE DEAD. 

taken, a similar law of Great Britain exists in full 
force at the present day. 

Though there may be little in the cold, damp pre- 
cincts of the tomb to cheer the melancholy feelings 
of a dying mortal ; yet in every age, mankind have 
evinced a strong aversion to their lifeless remains be- 
ing left unburied, a prey to accident, and to the rapa- 
cious beasts of the field and birds of the air. 

Upon the minds of the superstitious Egyptians this 
idea must have acted with immense power. Their 
religion, to which they were politically wedded and 
bigotedly devoted, taught them that their lives could be 
of little use further than to build their tombs and pre- 
pare for the long repose of death. And the harrow- 
ing thought, if seriously entertained, of being deprived 
of the right of burial after death ; the eclat, pomp, 
and ceremonies usually attendant upon their fune- 
rals, could hardly fail to haunt the dying Egyptian, 
and fill his soul with gloom and despair. This im- 
pression, it is supposed, could have acted with scarce- 
ly less weight in the early ages of the world upon 
the inhabitants of contemporaneous nations. 

Their sentiments upon this point are probably no 
more beautifully than faithfully expressed by Homer, 
in the following invocation of the ghost of Patroclus 
to Achilles, for the last sad offices of his surviving 

friend : 

" Thou sleep'st, Achilles ! while Patroclus, erst 
Thy most beloved, in death forgotten lies. 
I would pass the gates of Hades ; for the shadows of the dead 
Now drive me from their fellowship afar, 
And, the wide river interposed, I roam 
The yawning gulfs of Tartarus alone. 



INVOCATION FOR BURIAL RITES. 401 

And grant, grant, that, joining hands, we take 
One mutual, long farewell ! for, favoured once 
With my last rites, I visit earth no more. 

* * * * Refuse not to perform 
My last injunction. Bury not my bones 
From thine apart, but in one social tomb. 

# * * *# * ** 
So, in one vase, the golden one, by gift 

From Thetis thine, our mingled bones may rest." 

And Ulysses, of his visit to the infernal regions, 
says: 

" There, wandering through the gloom, I first surveyed, 
New to the realms of death, Elpenor's shade ; 
His cold remains, all naked to the sky, 
On distant shores, unwept, unburied lie." 

And the spectre, asking Ulysses' aid in obtaining 
the rites of the tomb, — 

" But lend me aid, I now conjure thee lend, 
By the soft tie and sacred name of friend ; 
By thy fond consort, by thy father's cares, 
By loved Telemachus's blooming years. 
****** 
The tribute of a tear is all I crave, 
And the possession of a peaceful grave." 

Vol. L — 51 



402 



JEWS IN EGYPT. 




Memlooks. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Jews in the Metropolis of Egypt. — JYatural Hatred of Jews 
and Moslems. — Mode of executing Jevjs. — Slave-market 
of Cairo. — Tombs of the Memlooks. — Memlook Kings. — 
Their Origin, Power, and Destruction, — Circassian Slaves, 
— Parents sell their own Children. 



After the unhappy termination of the mummy 
scene, having a few leisure hours to dispose of, we 
resolved to turn them to some account in further 
exploring the curiosities of Cairo. On our way to 
the slave-market, we passed through the section of 
the town inhabited by the Jews. We did not require 
to be informed when we had reached it ; for the same 
peculiar cast of visage which identifies the poor He- 



MUTUAL HATRED OF JEWS AND MOSLEMS. 403 

brew in all other parts of the world, met us here in the 
little dark, stived-up passage-ways of the Jews' quar- 
ter in Cairo. As is usual in most of the large cities 
of Europe, the Jews in the metropolis of Egypt hud- 
dle together, and live in a close, filthy, and vile part 
of the town. Many of the lanes (they cannot be 
called streets) in the Jews' quarter are so narrow that 
two persons can scarcely pass abreast. There are 
about three thousand Hebrews in Cairo, and between 
five and six thousand altogether in Egypt. Those 
we saw in Cairo, with few exceptions, appeared mis- 
erable in the extreme. They looked more wretched 
than the Arabs. They had sore eyes, swollen, ca- 
daverous faces, long beards, tattered garments — and 
a more degraded race of beings could not be found 
in any part of the world. 

Hated and contemned by the Moslems, they are 
compelled to pay tribute to the Turks ; and they 
tamely submit to insult and indignity from the mean- 
est Arabs. The animosity of the Moslems toward the 
Jews is no less proverbial than that of the Jews to- 
ward the Moslems. So abominable are the Jews in 
the eyes of the Turks, that when any of them are 
condemned to suffer death, they are invariably hanged 
— lest, should they be beheaded, according to the 
usual mode of executing criminals in the East, the 
sword should he defiled hy the hlood of a Jew ! The 
name of Jew, among the Egyptians, is synonymous 
with the most opprobrious epithets. The mule- 
drivers, when nettled by the obstinacy of their head- 
strong animals, after exhausting their strength in 



404 TYRANNY OF JEWISH RABBIS. 

whipping them, and their imaginations in endeavour- 
ing to find words for an adequate expression of their 
displeasure, find a consoUng revenge by applying to 
their mules and jackasses the hateful name of Jew ! 

The Jews have several synagogues in their quar- 
ter of the town, and are very strict in their devotion- 
al services. They are organized and governed con- 
formably to the law of Moses ; and submissively range 
themselves under their rabbis and high priests, who 
are tyrannical and oppressive in their administration. 

A Jew, one morning while it was yet dark, passing 
the coffee-shop of a Moslem with whom he was ac- 
quainted, and seeing a person there whom he mistook 
for the master, said, " Good morning, Sheik Moham- 
med ;" but the only response to this civil salutation 
was an angry rebuke from one of his brethren for 
addressing a Jew by a name so despicable. The of- 
fender was forthwith dragged before the high priest, 
w^ho caused him to be severely bastinaded for the 
crime, notwithstanding the protestations of the delin- 
quent that he committed this offence unintentionally.* 

This anecdote will serve to illustrate the hatred 
which the Jews entertain toward the Moslems, as 
well as to exhibit the tyranny and wanton cruelty of 
their high priests. 

Some of the Jews are wealthy ; but, fearful of ex- 
citing the envious and marauding disposition of the 
Moslems, they make little display of their riches, ex- 
cept at home. When going into the street, they are 
careful to change their dress, and to give themselves 

♦ Lane's Modern Egyptians, ii. 345. 



JEWS OF CAIRO. 406 

as shabby and mean an appearance as possible. The 
Jews of Cah'o, as in all other places, have not only 
a pecuUarity in appearance, but their occupations are 
also peculiar, or such as Jews, wherever situated, are 
found to engage in. Money-changers, jewellers, gold 
and silver smiths, pawnbrokers, and old clothes-ven- 
ders are found in any quantity among the Jews of 
Egypt. The same spirit of avarice, and the same 
disposition to overreach in commercial transactions, 
which distinguish the lower classes of Jews in other 
countries, where they are less oppressed, act with 
much stronger force upon the Jews in Cairo ; and 
often bring them into perilous contact with the 
government, where, frequently, their lives only can 
atone for indulging their inordinate desires after 
wealth. A Jew money-changer once lost his life in 
Cairo for jive cents ! The Pacha having issued a 
decree prohibiting the circulation of a certain Turk- 
ish coin, called 'adleeyehs, for more than fifteen pias- 
ters ; and a Jew who had demanded and taken sixteen 
for the same piece of money, being convicted of the 
offence, was hung forthwith.* 

The Jews have found Egypt, ever since the death 
of Joseph, a country of oppression and tyranny 
toward the people of their nation ; and, with the ex- 
ception of some brief periods, particularly under the 
early reign of the Macedonian dynasty, their condi- 
tion in that country has been little better than was 
that of their ancestors in the days of Moses. They 
have existed there only in a state %f bondage, degra- 

• Lane's Modem Egyptians, ii. 346, 347. 



406 SLAVE-MARKET OF CAIRO. 

• 

dation, and fear. They have always been tributary 
to government, and often in a state of Hteral slave- 
ry. Ptolemy Philadelphus, in his reign, ransomed 
a hundred and twenty thousand Jews who were then 
slaves in Egypt. When Alexandria fell into the 
hands of the Saracens, there were forty thousand 
tributary Jews in that city alone. Their numbers 
in Egypt have greatly dwindled with the decaying 
power and declining civilization of that country; 
while their physical and moral condition cannot be 
said to have improved. They are generally the first 
to suffer in case of any sudden outbreak among the 
people : are frequently plundered, and almost daily in- 
sulted. They live in a state of perpetual fear, re- 
ligiously contemning the Christians, bitterly hating 
the Moslems, and receive little or no sympathy from 
any quarter. When the plague breaks out in Egypt, 
its ravages among the Jews are most appalling. Death 
sweeps down their ranks, threatening total annihila- 
tion to their race in the land. What stronger evi- 
dence can be adduced of the truth of Holy Writ, 
than the present condition of the poor Israelites ! 

We entered the court of a dilapidated old building, 
with a rickety balcony run round the second story, 
having little dark cells opening upon the court on all 
sides. This was the slave-market. Here we saw 
man in a state of ignorance, degradation, and misery, 
but little removed from the mere animal or brute cre- 
ation. , It would be impossible to exhibit more de- 
plorable specimeS of our species than we saw in 
that sink of filth, disease, and death. There were 



SLAVE-MARKET OF CAIRO. 407 

slaves (mostly from Nubia, Abyssinia, and Dongola) 
in all the stalls, or in groups, sitting upon the ground 
or on the balcony. Some were handsome figures, 
and compactly built ; though by far the greater num- 
ber were ugly, deformed, and diseased. Their teeth, 
without exception, were white and beautiful. Some 
were comely, had well-formed faces, and large, dark, 
expressive eyes. They had scarcely any clothes on 
them, and what they had were swarming with vermin. 
The slave-dealers, watching over the stale articles 
of their traffic, evidently anxious to be relieved from 
the responsibility of their charge, were importunate 
to strike a bargain ; and thought that we, like our no- 
ble friend Lord Scatterberry, were in pursuit of beauty 
and youth. They spared no pains in exhibiting their 
fairest specimens ; and turned them round and round 
before us, that we might see on all sides of them, and 
then ordered them to walk up and down the court. 
The poor slaves, looking forward to a life of servi- 
tude and toil as a happy release from a den of such 
misery, tried to show themselves oif to the best ad- 
vantage. But when we passed along without making 
an offer^ the slaves assumed a disconsolate, gloomy 
air, and the dealers harshly upbraided them for not 
conducting themselves toward us in a more winning 
manner. Many sat or lay upon the ground, appa- 
rently unconscious of what was passing. The rava- 
ges of disease were upon them ; and death, to all ap- 
pearance, would be but too happy an exchange for 
their miserable existence in a state of so much want 
and wretchedness. Their sunken eyes rolled with a 



408 TOMBS OF THE MEMLOOKS. 

ghastly and vacant gaze ; their emaciated bodies and 
withered limbs lay motionless, or were drawn into 
a collapsed and inanimate heap, revolting to the sight, 
and touching to the feelings of humanity. We soon 
satisfied our curiosity in the slave-market ; and, ta- 
king a turn through the Turkish bazar, went out at 
the " Gate of Victory," to view the tombs of the 
Memlooks. 

These extraordinary monuments of an extinct dy- 
nasty of Egyptian rulers, stand on the east side of 
the town ; and, although within full view of the city, 
they rest amid all the gloom and desolation of the 
wilderness. Were they in the centre of Arabia, they 
could not be more completely in the desert. They 
are of the Saracenic order of architecture, and have 
an imposing and grand effect. To each is attached 
a mosque, school, and dwelling. But they are all in 
a state of rapid decay. Like all things else in Turk- 
ish hands, the tombs of the Memlooks will crumble 
into dust, without having the least effort made to 
arrest their gradual fall. 

The Memlook kings raised themselves from bond- 
men to the throne, and governed Egypt for the space 
of two hundred and sixty-seven years, with a rigour 
equalled only by the barbarous atrocities of their 
Turkish conquerors. Becoming at last tributary and 
degraded vassals of the Sultan of Turkey, the rem- 
nant who were left still held the semblance of power 
which was intrusted to them by the conqueror, to 
restrain the ambitious designs of their nominal mas- 
ter, the Pacha of Egypt. Though policy dictated a 



NAPOLEON IN EGYPT. 409 

show of obedience to the decrees of the Porte, 
treachery, intrigue, poison, strangulation, and the 
sword again virtually raised the Memlooks to abso- 
lute power over the country. 

When Napoleon invaded Egypt, whatever may 
have been his ulterior designs, he declared waif against 
the Memlooks only ; who, at that time, composed the 
military strength of the country. The twenty -four 
beys, w^ho at that period governed Egypt, were se- 
lected from the ranks of the Memlooks ; and they 
rendered the power of the Pacha, who received his 
appointment from the Porte, a complete nullity. He 
was often made the pitiful tool to carry into effect 
their ambitious designs, and to consummate their 
atrocious enormities. Napoleon chastised and drove 
them from the country. But, upon the general resto- 
ration instituted by the " Holy Alliance" subsequently 
to the downfall of Bonaparte, a lurking, lingering 
remnant of the Memlooks again made their appear- 
ance in Egypt, and essayed to exercise their former 
sway and control over the Pacha. But a fearful 
change had come over them ; and a man of stern de- 
cision and undoubted bravery held the destiny of the 
country. Mehemet Ali, through the various arts and 
intrigues common to the East for the acquisition of 
power, had raised himself to the viceroyalty of Egypt. 
The Memlooks had tried in vain to annihilate him 
and his power ; and the Sultan, in conjunction with 
them, had made frequent efforts to defeat his ambi- 
tious purposes. But, with that consummate address, 
bribery, and intrigue which he brought effectually to 

Vol. L — 52 



410 BRITISH ATROCITIES PUNISHED. 

bear upon the imperial court, he successfully baffled 
the cunning designs of the Porte ; while he held the 
Memlooks at defiance by the inflexible bravery and 
attachment of his Albanian soldiers. 

After various ineffectual struggles w^ith the viceroy, 
in all of Avhicli the Memlooks suffered severely, they 
proposed, upon the invasion of Egypt by the English 
in 1807, to form a friendly alliance with the Pacha 
for the purpose of inflicting a merited chastisement 
upon their common enemy. A proposition at once 
so conciliatory and so favomable at that interesting 
moment, could not fail to be listened to by the vice- 
roy, and was embraced by him with alacrity. 

The united forces of Mehemet Ali and the Mem- 
looks met the English invaders (who had already 
landed in Egypt, possessed themselves of Alexandria, 
and committed their usual atrocities upon the defence- 
less citizens), cut them to pieces, and hung their de- 
voted heads over the " Gate of Victory,'' as 'an im- 
pressive trophy, upon the walls of the metropolis. 
The country being no longer a prey to the rapacity 
of foreign invaders, now left the seeds of jealousy, 
discord, intrigue, and assassination, which deeply 
rankled in the bosom of the rival powers, ample op- 
portunity to germinate and shoot into fearful activity. 

The authority of Mehemet Ali was still acknowl- 
edged and obeyed by the Memlooks, and the sem- 
blance of friendship subsisted between them and the 
viceroy. But each, actuated by the base motives 
prompted by mutual and bitter hatred, only sought a 
favourable opportunity for wreaking vengeance up- 



THE PACHA AND THE MEMLOOKS. 411 

on the other, and to be rid for ever of a hated 
and detested foe. Fortunately for the viceroy, and 
perhaps for the cause of humanity, a plausible pre- 
text was afforded for calling the Memlooks together ; 
and for their voluntarily placing themselves in the 
power of the Pacha, without exciting on their part 
the least suspicion of the intended execution of his 
murderous designs, until it was too late* for them to 
effect an escape from impending destruction. A 
youthful son of Mehemet Ali had been presented by 
the Grand Seignior with the dignity and order of a 
pacha. His father had appointed him general of the 
army which was soon to march, in conformity to the 
commands of the Porte, to commence a hostile attack 
upon the Wahabees in Arabia. The 1st day of March, 
1811, was appointed for the investiture of the young 
general ; and a splendid fete was to be given in hon- 
our of the event at the citadel where the ceremony 
was to take place. The Memlooks were invited to 
join in the festivities. They accordingly appeared 
at the time appointed, with Chahin Bey at their head, 
attired in their richest and most splendid uniforms. 
They presented themselves at the audience-chamber, 
and congratulated the viceroy, by whom they were 
cordially received and treated with much affability. 
They were presented with coffee and sherbet, and 
Mehemet Ali, with great openness of heart and appa- 
rent sincerity, addressed himself to each, with many 
flattering expressions of friendship and esteem — a 
course of conduct calculated to lull all lurking sus- 
picions in the breasts of the Memlooks, if any at that 
time had disturbed them. 



412 DE^RUCTION OF THE MEMLOOKS. 

The ceremonies at the citadel being completed, the 
procession was formed and ordered to move into the 
town. The troops of the viceroy, as usual, preceded 
the Memlooks. When they were all compactly 
wedged into the narrow passage cut through the sol- 
id rock, with high and insurmountable barriers on 
each side — the troops of the viceroy having passed 
out, the portals at both ends of the deadly pass were 
immediately closed ! Soldiers had been ordered to 
the heights overlooking the Memlooks, thus caught 
. in a trap ; and they now poured a destructive fire 
upon their victims, until they were slaughtered almost 
to a man ! The town was subsequently ransacked 
and plundered by the soldiers for two whole days, 
under the pretence of searching for the Memlooks. 
Some were found in the harem of the viceroy and 
the house of his son, having taken shelter there in 
the hope that their lives might be spared ; but they 
were all dragged from their hiding-places, and imme- 
diately decapitated. The body of their leader was 
treated with every possible indignity. A rope was 
passed round the neck, and his lifeless carcass dragged 
through the most public streets of Cairo. Five hun- 
dred houses are said to have been sacked in the pop- 
ular fury, before the brutal excesses of the soldiery 
could be arrested. Nearly five hundred of the gal- 
lant enemies of the viceroy lay dead at his feet ; and 
a much more numerous host of their attendants, who 
usually accompanied them as servants, were mingled 
with the lifeless bodies of their masters. Not less than 
eleven or twelve hundred lives were sacrificed on the 



PERILOUS ESCAPE. 413 

spot Orders were given to pursue the devoted Mem- 
looks who yet survived, to the utmost borders of the 
country. One man alone, of all their number, made 
his escape. He, being detained on business, did not 
leave the palace in time to join his companions be- 
fore they had entered the fatal pass. The gates were 
closed as he mounted his horse ; and he was left, shut 
in on all sides, and completely in the hands of his 
enemies, who thirsted for his blood. His suspicions 
were at once aroused, and the brisk firing of musketry 
which immediately ensued along the whole line of 
the passage from the summit of the rocks, confirmed 
the worst construction that he had put upon the ex- 
traordinary circumstances of the case. He w as fully 
aware that the fatal moment had arrived, and that 
there was not an instant to be lost. There was no 
way of escape, however, except down a perpendicu- 
lar precipice forty feet in height ! Already he was a 
doomed man, and death hung suspended over him as 
by a hair. He hesitated not ; but spurred his noble 
Arabian to the brink, and leaped the fearful height ! 
His horse was killed dead on the spot, and he him- 
self escaped the dangers of the fall and the showers 
of the enemy's fire, which was now poured after him, 
as by a miracle. He succeeded in mounting another 
horse, rushed through the guards, and fled alone into 
the desert. He was afterward joined by a small suite, 
and settled in Palestine. 

Thus awfully perished the remnant of a barbarous 
race of tyrants, who, for a period of more than five 
hundred and fifty years, had rendered a portion of 



414 CIRCASSIAN SLAVES. 

the fairest part of the world the theatre of anarchy, 
bloodshed, demoralization, barbarism, and oppression. 
The Memlooks were introduced into Egypt early in 
the thirteenth century. Their name imports military 
slaves ; and such in fact they were originally, being 
Circassians, Mingrelians, and Abazans, who, as the 
spoils of w^ar among the barbarians of the East, had 
been crowded into the slave-markets of Asia, and 
were bought by the rulers of Egypt and formed into 
military corps. 

The Circassian slaves of both sexes have ever been 
held in the highest estimation of any by the Turks. 
" The Abazans stand next in favour with them ; the 
Mingrehans next ; after them the Georgians, then the 
Russians and Poles, next the Hungarians and Ger- 
mans, then the Negroes ; and, last of all, the Span- 
iards, Maltese, and Franks, whom they despise as 
drunkards, debauchees, idle and mutinous."* 

It is a fact worthy of remark, that of the many 
thousands of slaves of both sexes brought from the 
borders of the Caspian Sea and the region of the 
Caucasus mountains, and settled in Egypt in mar- 
riage with natives of their own country, not a soul 
has been able to perpetuate its kind.f Every family, 
after the first generation, has become extinct. The 
same is also true of the Turks, who can only secure 
the continuance of their families by marrying the 
Egyptians. A fresh supply of slaves from the East 
has usually found a ready market in Egypt, from the 
time they were first introduced there to the present 

• Volney's Egypt and Syria, i. 72, note. f Ibid. i. 66. 



KIND TREATMENT OF SLAVES. ' 415 

day. The Circassian and Georgian female slaves are 
most highly valued by Turkish grandees ; and Mr. 
Lane informs us that at Cairo, "they are often their 
only female companions, and sometimes their wives ; 
and being generally preferred by them before the free 
ladies of Egypt, the slaves hold a higher rank than 
the latter in common opinion. They are richly 
dressed, presented with valuable ornaments, indulged 
frequently with almost every luxury that can be pro- 
cured ; and, when it is not their lot to wait upon 
others, may in some cases be happy ; as latterly has 
been proved, since the termination of the war in 
Greece, by many females of that country, captives in 
Egyptian harems, refusing their offered liberty, which 
all of those cannot be supposed to have done from 
ignorance of the state of their parents and other rela- 
tions, or the fear of exposing themselves to poverty."* 
It is no strange thing to see poor parents in Egypt 
publicly offering their own children for sale ; though 
it very rarely occurs, except in cases of extreme dis- 
tress and destitution. 

* Lane's Modern Egyptians, i. 256. 



4] 6 CEMETERY OF CAIRO. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

Visit from Monsiew le " Baron Pompolino.'^ — Cemetery of 
Cairo. — Tomb of Mehemet AH. — Ancient Sepulchres. — 
Excursion to the Petrifed Forest. — Brilliant Cavalcade. — 
Disconcerted Understanding. 

The cojnplaisance de Monsieur le " Baron Pompo- 
lino," in honouring us with a morning call, delayed 
somewhat our departure on an excursion to the great 
cemetery of Cairo and the petrified forest in the 
Syrian desert. Monsiem- le Baron is literally an enor- 
mous man — in bulk, " a prodigiously clever fellow." 

Having disposed of the consular dignitary, we rode 
outside the walls of the city, and entered the fields 
of the dead. We were at once in a wilderness of 
graves ! This, the largest cemetery in the Pacha's 
dominions, extends from the walls of the metropolis 
to the base of the mountains of Mukattam. Thick- 
ly dotted with tombs and swelling graves, it amply 
testified to the imperious sway of Death, even in the 
sunny vale of Egypt. 

Here, with dishevelled hair and rueful visage, a 
sheet-enveloped group of women were waihng over 
a new-formed tomb. There a shallow grave yawned 
to receive the uncoffined remains of one " new to the 



SEPULCHRE OF MEHEMET ALL 417 

realms of death." On the other hand, a funeral 
group had just deposited a corpse, sprinkled it with 
dust, and were then performing the last sad rites of 
humanity. In the distance, towered the family tomb 
of Mehemet Ali. Desolation and the gloom of death 
were around us. No leaf fluttered in the breeze, no 
flower blossomed there ; no tree waved its shade, and 
no green herbage cheered the gloom of those eternal 
sands. 

The sepulchre of Mehemet Ali is an imposing 
structure ; as effective, when seen at a distance, as 
any modern edifice in Egypt. It is built of stone, 
and crow^ned with two lofty domes. The floor is 
covered with Persian carpets. The numerous monu- 
mental erections over the Pacha's favourite wives, 
his sons, and the other distinguished personages there 
interred, are spread with Cashmere shawls. Lamps 
are suspended from the ceilings, and the recesses are 
fitted up with divans. The Pacha, mindful that he, 
too, like other men, is mortal ; and that when his 
destiny upon earth shall have been accomplished, he 
must lay down the sceptre and mingle with 'the dust, 
has reserved a place for himself in this tomb. 

In their plenitude and greatness, the Egyptian 
kings took particular thought about their tombs. 
Immense sacrifices of life, toil, and treasure, were 
made in their wonderful achievement. Mountains 
of hving rock were penetrated to the centre ; and the 
sound of the artist's implements ceased not till pa- 
laces of surpassing beauty, embellished with sculp- 
ture and painting, existed in their flinty bosoms. The 

Vol. I.— -53 



418 THE PETRIFIED FOREST. 

vast pyramids, which pierce the sky, and defy the 
obHterating effects of time, were raised to gratify the 
vanity of Egyptian despots and hold their faded dust ! 
This ambition to be pompously housed after death, 
has pervaded the minds of Egyptian rulers through- 
out every period of her known history. It exists 
still ; and, in striking contrast with the degradation 
of her fallen condition, it may conspicuously be seen 
in the lofty mausoleum of the reigning prince of 
Egypt. ^ 

Leaving the tomb of the Facha, we passed those 
of the Memlooks, and rode to the " Petrified Forest/' 
The surface of the desert presented a wavy aspect 
of gentle vales and swelling ridges. It was covered 
with pebbles, jasper, and agate. Occasionally, we 
saw pieces of petrified wood, long before we reached 
the extended mound upon which the main bulk of it 
was strewed. Ascending the rocky acclivity, we 
stood amid the fallen fragments of a forest that once 
waved a grateful shade over that desolate region. 
The surface of the desert is, to a great extent, thick- 
ly strewed with the petrified trunks and shattered 
limbs of full-grown trees. Some are well defined 
throughout, — with every appearance of having re- 
mained in their present posture, and with little or no in- 
terruption, from the time they were first thrown down 
to this day. I measured the trunk of one of the most 
perfect specimens to the extent of eighty feet. The 
main stem and its branches extended much further. 
But above this point, their flinty ruins lay in a less 
perfect state. Others of large dimensions might have 



BRILLIANT CAVALCADE. 419 

been measured with equal facility ; and innumerable 
specimens of petrified wood, of every variety, were 
scattered in all directions. 

I have seen these petrifactions recorded by travel- 
lers ; but I had not the least conception of their ex- 
tent or interest, until I visited the spot. The fairest 
and most numerous specimens lay upon rather ele- 
vated ground, while in the valleys that run toward 
the Nile, there were very few pieces, and those had 
the appearance of being tumbled down from the ele- 
vated swells on either side. 

It may be a question not unworthy the considera- 
tion of the naturalist to investigate the cause of this 
immense mass of petrifaction, elevated upon a sur- 
face so high as to preclude the possibility of its being 
covered with water, unless the whole desert between 
Cairo and Suez be inundated. This, however, is not 
more remarkable than the petrified sea-shells which 
are found upon the high mountains of Upper Egypt. 
I have now in my possession perfect specimens of 
these, which I picked up in our rambles about the 
mountains of Thebes. 

As we were descending the declivity, we saw, in 
the distance, a long procession of camels, horses, 
and donkeys, mounted by suspicious-looking indi- 
viduals, armed with guns, pistols, sabres, swords, 
daggers, and other warlike implements. Their long 
beards, red caps, and oriental air filled our minds with 
some doubts of their honesty. At first, we thought 
they were some marauders, seeking in the solitude 
of those cheerless wastes for plunder and spoils. We 



420 A FLATTERING SALUTATION. 

had neither guns nor any other weapons of defence ; 
and were rummating upon our defenceless situation, 
when, greatly to our relief, we discovered that the 
party coming down upon us with such a warlike as- 
pect, comprised none other than our estimable Eng- 
lish friends. When we saw their ponderous eye- 
glasses swinging upon their breasts and glistening in 
the rays of the sun, all our fears were suppressed. 
Had the broad colours of her Majesty been let loose 
to the wind, streaming from the tallest camel, we 
could not have been more certain of the origin of 
this outlandish, bandit-looking cavalcade, than we 
were when we saw the dazzling display of eye- 
glasses. 

The Builderdashes, Rimtapers, Doctor O'Squee- 
bey, and several others were of the party. They 
were unable to divine who we were, until, quizzing- 
glass to eye, they had approached the spot where we 
stood. Then, with one accord, letting fall their glass- 
es, the gentlemen roared out in the accent and modu- 
lation of voice peculiar to the " sea-girt isle" — " How 
are ye 1 how are ye 1 What the devil brought you 
here ? Is there any thing extrdordinary among these 
demmed old sand-hills T 

This flattering salutation having been responded 
to, the party dismounted, and related to us the disas- 
ters of the day. The ladies declared they had been 
" knocked up before ten o'clock in the morning !" 
But notwithstanding these vigorous efforts to " take 
time by the forelock," it was half past eleven o'clock 
before the Arabs were ready to depart. In passing 



A SUDDEN BREAK-DOWN. 



421 



out at the gate of the city, a baggage-camel crushed 
against the wall, tore the goat-skins, and let the water 
out upon the ground. This mischief was scarcely 
repaired, when Mrs. Builderdash's donkey plunged 
off at full speed among the tombs, endangering his 
own neck, frightening Mrs. B., and carrying disorder 
through the whole party. Dr. O'Squeebey, mounted 
upon a fleet horse, pursued the absconding quadru- 
ped, and beat him with a club until he forced him 
to resume his place in the procession. They now 
moved forward ; but had proceeded only a short dis- 
tance, when the saddle of one of the Misses Rimta- 
per broke down, and precipitated the young lady into 
the sand ! Luckily she received no material injury ; 
and the saddle being replaced and well secured with 
a fresh supply of ropes, order was again restored, and 
the procession was once more put in motion. It was 
soon discovered that the servants had forgotten the 
beer, bread, and charcoal. A small detachment being 
sent oif to town for these important supplies, the re- 
mainder proceeded on, and came through the rest of 
the distance w^ithout further accident. But these un- 
toward circumstances had carried them deep into the 
afternoon before they arrived upon the field of their 
inspection. 

Sir Danbury had nearly recovered from the gout, 
and was in excellent spirits. He advanced a few paces 
in front of his companions, and, through the medium 
of his glass, surveyed the petrified fragments that were 
thickly strewed over the land ; then, wheeling round, 
and holding his glass half suspended to his eye, he 



422 PATHOS OF DR. O'SQUEEBEY. 

said : " This is a demmed extraordinary spectarUe, 
'pon honour !" Advancing toward Colonel Builder- 
dash, and taking him confidentially by the arm, he 
observed, " It would be a demmed clever plan to pur- 
chase the petrified forest and send it out to England, 
'pon honour/' 

Sir Danbury thought an honest penny might be 
made by turning it over to the British Museum, and 
wished to induce Colonel Builderdash to join him in 
the enterprise. The colonel, however, expressed 
doubts, under the diminished revenue of the govern- 
ment, and the contemplated marriage of her Majesty, 
whether an appropriation sufficiently large could be 
obtained from Parliament for that purpose. He was 
of opinion that, unless it could be worked on to the 
public at an enormous amount as other oriental col- 
lections had been, there was little encouragement to 
move in such weighty matters. Sir Danbury swore 
that " he was of the same opinion, 'pon honour." 

Doctor O'Squeebey, in full Turkish costume, with 
pistols in his sash, stood poised upon one leg, with 
his left hand upon the hilt of his sabre, and his right 
on his heart, delivering a semi-confidential lecture to 
the pretty Miss Builderdash on the subject of fossili- 
zation and conchylaceous substances. Connected 
with his scientific exordium, the learned doctor made 
some touching remarks about the affections. He 
was demonstrating to the young lady, by argument, 
elegant gesticulation, and pathetic expression of face, 
the astonishing capabiUties of the human heart. The 
sudden appearance of Mrs. Builderdash, who at that 



THE SORROWS OF SIR DANBURY. 423 

interesting moment joined her amiable daughter, pro- 
duced a slight pause in the affecting discourse of the 
doctor, ^and finally turned it again upon shells and 
fossil remains. 

The Misses Rimtaper were " delighted with the 
petrified forest, it was so odd." One of them, ap- 
proaching her brother with an ecstatical exclamation, 
desired to know if Sir Danburj " had ever witnessed 
any thing so extraordinary — so very odd ?" 

Sir D anbury, who, glass to eye, was contemplating 
a large petrifaction which he held in his right hand, 
and which, by some unaccountable accident, at that 
moment slipped from his grasp and fell upon his gouty 
foot, bounded in a paroxysm of wrath, and chastely 
exclaimed, " Dem it,. my dear, I shall be murdered — 
absolutely martyred, in this demmed desert, 'pon 
honour !" 

" Pray whafs the matter, dear Dan ? you appear to 
be completely knocked up," affectionately observed 
Miss Rimtaper. 

" Matter 1" responded the agonized Sir Danbury, 
"why, dem it, my dear, I shall be sacrificed — com- 
pletely ruined : my foot is mashed to jelly with this 
demmed stone !" 

" Did the rock fall on your toe, dear Dan 1" touch- 
ingly inquired Miss Rimtaper. 

" My toe !" rejoined Sir Danbury ; " will you hold 
your demmed tongue, my dear ! You'll take my life ; 
would you like to have your foot ground to powder 
in this demmed desert V 

" Ton me word, this is very extraordinary. Sir Dan- 



424 PREPARATIONS FOR A MEAL. 

bury, very odd !" observed Miss Rimtaper, miffed at 
the last reply of her affectionate brother. 

"'Tis devilish odd; w^ill you hold your demmed 
tongue, though, my dear, and call Doctor O'Squeebey, 
Miss Rimtaper ?" said Sir Danbury. 

" No, indeed I w^on't. Sir Danbury 1" replied Miss 
Rimtaper, in a more elevated tone of voice. 

" Then go to the devil, my dear, and be demmed 
to you !" was the response of Sir Danbury. 

Perceiving that the good undei' standing of Sir Dan- 
bury and his affectionate sistei' vv^as considerably dis- 
turbed, and that it was not likely to assume a more 
genial aspect by our presence, we moderately rode 
past their tents, which were pitched in the valley. 

A large train of Arab attendants were active in the 
culinary department. A blazing fire was kindled, and 
the smoke of fat was curling upward like that of 
burning incense on an idol's altar. The ground was 
strewed with demijohns, bottles, beds, kettles, pans, 
plates, water-skins, hams, chickens, and various mate- 
rial in the raw state ; and, as we bade adieu to the 
petrified forest, every thing in this quarter was going 
swimmingly on. 

Loitering slowly toward Cairo, we reached the 
" Gate of Victory" just as the sun dipped his broad 
and luminous disc behind the Libyan hills. It was 
then the depth of winter ; but the air was balmy, the 
breeze gentle, and the climate lovely as an Itahan 
May. 



VISIT TO THE HAREMS. 425 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

Expedition of Discovery among the Harems. — Mysteries and 
Miseries of a Turkish Bath, — Propensity of Egyptian 
Ladies for its Pleasures. — Baths of the Ancient Egyptians, 
Greeks, and Romans ; and of the Scythians and Finlanders, 

Our English friends having returned from the pet* 
rifled forest, Mrs. C. was notified that the ladies, in- 
cluding Mrs. Wrinklebottom (who had nearly recov- 
ered from her late injuries), had planned a new en- 
terprise ; and she was invited to share with them in 
its expenses and pleasures. 

They proposed to visit the harems of Cairo ; and 
the arrangements for this adventure were already 
completed. Accordingly, at an appointed hour, there 
was a great commotion in the street; and the party, 
preceded by four armed janizaries and the interpreter 
of the English consulate, accompanied by the usual 
number of out- runners, drew up in front of our abode. 
With one exception, no accident occurred to mar the 
opening scene of this expedition. lUtmu 

Mrs. Wrinklebottom, still weak from the effects of 
her late disaster at the museum, rode a head&txong 

Vol. L — 54 



426 TURKISH BATHS. 

creature, which took a notion to run through a low, 
narrow gate, scarcely large enough to admit his body 
disencumbered of every thing else. Go he would, 
and go he did, in spite of the most vigorous efforts 
of Mrs. W. and the muleteer to prevent him. The 
consequence was, a clean sweep of every thing on 
his back ; and Mrs. Wrinklebottom was most uncom- 
fortably plunged into the sand. She was fortunately 
more agitated than injured; and, being mounted on a 
more tractable animal, the procession set off again 
with no little noise and paradef. The Egyptians gath- 
ered around, anxious to discover their destination. 

As no gentlemen were to be of this party, and the 
doctor having an engagement with Mr. Lieder, the 
worthy missionary at Cairo, I was left alone. Though 
not quite so far gone as poor Burns represented his 
case to be, when he hesitated " whether to get drunk 
or to hang himself;" I had nevertheless recourse to an 
amusement which was far more exhausting than the 
former, and, for a time, I was not without my fears 
of its resulting as fatally as the latter. I took a 
Turkish bath. 

Entering the vestibule of the establishment, I stood 
m a large circular room, with concave ceiling, hghted 
by small apertures in the dome. Placing myself in 
the hands of one of the " knights of the bath," I was 
conducted into a side room of small dimensions, simi- 
lar in form and finish to the entrance-hall, though of 
much higher temperature. The marble floor was 
spread with mats, and the Ught was admitted through 
the roof. Here my clothes were placed in the hands 



BATfflNG AMUSEMENTS. 427 

of an Arab for safe keeping ; and being swathed from 
head to foot in coarse towels, with high wooden clogs 
on my feet, I launched off, preceded by my conductor, 
for a more deep investigation into the mysteries of 
the bath. Descending two or three steps, I entered 
a large apartment crowned with a dome, and lighted 
and constructed in a similar manner to the last. It 
was very warm, and filled with steam. 

Several Arabs lay about the room like panting dogs 
in a kamsin. One man was having his head shaved 
— another his beard relieved from its vermin. 

This process being neither new nor pleasing, I had 
a strong desire to proceed. But in stepping from this 
room into the next, I "jumped out of the frying-pan 
into the fire." Where I had only scorched, I now 
burned and blistered From a moderate simmering, 
I found myself on the point of boiling over in the 
steam and hot air of the room. It was even worse 
than the baths of Nero at Baiae ; and, as one of 
Squire Thornhill's fashionable ladies chastely ex- 
pressed herself while dancing at the Vicar of Wake- 
field's, I " was all of a muck of sweat." 

Fountains of boiling water were playing in differ- 
ent parts of the room, and rushing down upon the 
marble floor. I stumbled over one or two half-inani- 
mate Egyptians, who had hauled themselves out of 
the water, and lay upon the floor more dead than 
alive. As the steam occasionally broke away, I could 
perceive, in the apartments that opened still more 
deeply into the bosom of these " infernal regions," 
other dusky sons of the Prophet indulging in all the 



428 ROUGH HANDLING. 

delights of the boiling luxury. I had no disposition, 
however, to penetrate the steaming ocean any further. 
And when the guide, who had conducted me thus far, 
handed me over to the real Vulcan of the place, 1 
began to feel alarmed for my safety. 

The old salamander, into whose hands I had at 
last fallen, was a tall, gaunt figure, in a state of per- 
fect nudity. He had a cadaverous, parboiled visage, 
shaved head, and sepulchral voice. He kept up a 
constant jabbering in Arabic, which was as intelhgi- 
ble to me as my language was to him. He at once 
proceeded to unfold the mysteries of his art. Seiz- 
ing me round the waist with a determined grip, he 
prostrated me upon the side of a large marble tub, 
into which the water was pouring at a high tempera- 
ture. He pulled my legs and arms until every joint 
cracked like the whip of a French postillion ; then 
clasping my head with both hands, he wrenched 
it back and forth till my neck-bone uttered a nimble 
sound. My ears were the next object of his attack. 
These he pulled and mashed in his fingers till they 
snapped like parched peas. Then my fingers and 
toes came in detail under his dislocating inspection. 
Every joint in them audibly testified to their peril, 
and the danger they were in of being torn out by the 
roots. This done, he made a painful attempt upon 
my back-bone. To prevent this stem of my body 
from being broken, I resisted the executioner by main 
strength. Being foiled in his wrenching operations 
upon my back, he poached the flesh on every part 
of my body till it was ready to drop fi*om my bones. 



HOSTILE DEMONSTRATIONS. 429 

Having exhausted his strength in this department of 
his art, he caught up a coarse, raspy stone, and began 
to rub the soles of my feet. They were at length 
on the point of blistering ; he nevertheless continued 
to rasp away, nor could I prevail upon him to desist, 
until, vexed with his pertinacity, and stung with pain, 
I gave him a kick, and tumbled him into a boiling 
fountain. 

I had now, as I supposed, come to an open rup- 
ture with him, and was determined to fight my way 
out once more to the Hght of day. But the fel- 
low, on picking himself out of the water, smiled so 
good-naturedly, that I suffered him to approach again, 
and he continued the process in a modified style. 
He took a woollen bag, dipped it frequently in boil- 
ing water, and rubbed me for some minutes, and then 
introduced my feet into the tub at my side. I thought 
it would be impossible for me to endure the intensity 
of the heat of this water. But he proceeded in a 
manner so gentle, dipping me in little by little, that 
he finally succeeded in plunging me all over into the 
scalding bath. This produced a strange sensation. 
I soon began to like it ; and remained in so long, that 
when I was fished out, I could scarcely stand alone. 
I was now conducted into an adjoining room, and 
seated beside a bubbling fountain. A basin of sweet 
water being brought, the Arab, with soap in one hand 
and palm shavings in the other, lathered me from 
head to foot. He then brought me an old razor, and 
proposed to shave my head. This honour I de- 
clined. The soap being washed off, and having 



430 BATHS IN CAIRO. 

been re-enveloped in warm napkins, I was conducted 
back to my toilet. Here I found a mattress spread 
with sheets and cushions, upon which I rechned. I 
drank a cup of coffee, though I dechned the pipe 
which accompanied it. 

I now supposed the operations of the bath were 
over ; but I found myself doomed to undergo another 
pulverization. Two beardless Arabs commenced 
gently rubbing the soles of my feet. This done, they 
pulled my toes till they cracked as before. Then 
they pressed back my shoulders, and endeavoured to 
expand my chest by pressing, pulling, twisting, and 
kneading my flesh until they were fatigued and I was 
sore. On desisting from their labours, I gave them 
a trifle, in gratitude for their indulgence. I lay upon 
the mattress for half an hour, and then dressed, and 
gave the keeper of the bath five piastres, with which 
he was perfectly satisfied. 

I passed an hour and a half in the bath, and was 
under the hands of the operators nearly all the time ; 
yet the trifling sum which I gave for this attention 
(being about twenty-five cents) was five times the 
amount usually paid by the natives for a similar 
service. 

The bath is a favourite luxury of the Egyptians, 
and is every where indulged in by the orientals. 
In Cairo alone, there are seventy pubHc baths, and 
the wealthier part of the inhabitants have baths in 
their own houses. The pubUc baths are accessi- 
ble to all classes of citizens. Some of them are for 
women and children only ; others are exclusively for 



EGYPTIAN LADIES AT THE BATH. 431 

men. Some of them are for both men and women : 
the men occupying them in the forenoon, and the 
women frequenting them in the afternoon. Some 
of the more opulent inhabitants visit the bath twice 
or three times a week ; others once ; and those who 
cannot afford the expense, bathe in the Nile " scot 
free." 

" The women, when they can afford to do so, visit 

the bath frequently In general, all the females 

of a house and the young boys go together ... 

There are few pleasures in which the women of 
Egypt delight so much as in the visit to the bath, 
where they frequently have entertainments ; and of- 
ten, on these occasions, they are not a little noisy in 
their mirth. They avail themselves of the opportu- 
nity to display their jewels and their finest clothes, 
and to enter into familiar conversation with those 
whom they meet there. Sometimes a mother chooses 
a bride for her son from among the girls or women 
whom she chances to see in the bath ..'.... In the 
case of the preparations for a marriage, the bath is 
hired for a select party, consisting of the women of 
two or more families ; and none else are admitted .... 
Where all are friends, the younger girls indulge in 

more mirth and frolic On particular occasions 

of festivity, they are entertained with the songs of 
two or more 'Awalim, hired to accompany them to 
the bath."* 

The Turks indulge to an immoderate extent in the 
use of the bath. 

* Lane's Modem Egyptians, ii. 49, 60. 



432 BATHS OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 

By the ancient Egyptians, the bath was considered 
a hixury ; since, during the seventy days of mourning 
observed at the death of a king, when they rent their 
garments, closed their temples, cast dust upon their 
heads, made no sacrifices, withheld themselves from 
all feasts, girded themselves, and went about from 
day to day singing mournful songs, " none dared to 
use the hath or ointments."* 

Diodorus, speaking of the expense lavished upon 
their sacred animals, informs us that the Egyptians 
" forbore not to wash them in hot baths, anointed 
them with the most precious unguents, and perfumed 
them with the sweetest odours."t 

The priests used the bath twice each day, and as 
often during the night ; and every third day they 
shaved every part of their bodies.J 

Wilkinson, speaking of the baths of the ancient 
Egyptians, says : " The only instances I have met 
with in the paintings is in a tomb at Thebes, where 
a lady is represented with four attendants, who wait 
upon her and perform various duties. One removes 
the jewellery and clothes she has taken off, or sus- 
pends them to a stand in the apartment. Another 
pours water from a vase over her head, as the third 
rubs her arms and body with her open hands ; and a 
fourth, seated near her, holds a sweet-scented flower 
to her nose, and supports her as she sits."§ 

Whatever may have been their taste for the bath 
previously, there can be no doubt of the partiality of 

• Diod. i. 75. f Ibid. i. 85. $ Herod, ii. 37. 

§ Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, First Series, iii. 388. 



REMAINS OF ROMAN BATHS. 433 

the Egyptians for its luxuries under the reign of the 
Greeks. In the city of Alexandria alone, there were 
several thousand baths. 

The Romans, too, were famous for bathing ; and 
conclusive evidence of their extent and splendour is 
still visible in the shattered fragments of their bathing 
establishments strewed in ruins about the " Eternal 
City." Wherever the Romans permanently located, 
they erected theatres and baths ; and in a style of 
solidity which has survived, in many instances, all 
other traces of their works. Among the hot springs 
of Geruiany, they found every facility for indulging 
their propensity for the bath ; and in many places, 
through the vale of the Rhine, the remains of the 
Roman baths have dared the convulsions of more 
than eighteen hundred years ! 

The Germans are very fond of the bath. They 
frequently indulge in it for hours together. I have 
witnessed at some of the watering places twenty or 
thirty ladies and gentlemen in a bath at the same 
time — all seated, enveloped to their chins in water. 
There they pass the morning, discussing the incidents 
of the times ; taking their coffee ; reading the papers ; 
and smoking. 

In the metropohs of Hungary, I recollect seeing 
a bathing-house, where a warm bath may be had for 
a sum less than one cent ! This bath, however, was 
suppUed by a hot spring, and was frequented only by 
the peasants, who bathed in it promiscuously, without 
regard to age or sex. 

Vol. I. — 55 



434 BATHING AMONG THE ANCIENT GREEKS. 

The Scythians * who, as Herodotus says, " never 
bathed themselves," indulged in a va'pour hath never 
theless, which " excited from them cries of exulta- 
tion." It was obtained by means of red-hot stones, 
upon which were thrown hemp-seed. From this 
ascended a delightfully perfumed vapour. 

The Finlanders obtain a bath in a similar manner. 
" The poorest peasants have a small house built for 
the purpose. It consists of a small chamber, in the 
innermost part of which are placed a number of 
stones, which are heated till tliey become red. On 
these stones water is thrown, until the company with- 
in are involved in a thick cloud of vapour."f 

Media is said, by the process of the bath or " boil- 
ing," to have " restored youth to the aged. She in- 
vented baths, and nourished with warm vapours all 
who wished it .... It was supposed that her patients 
were in reality boiled. Pelias, an old and infirm man, 
using this operation, died in the process."! 

The ancient Greeks, too, were a bath-loving peo- 
ple ; and female attendants performed the offices of 
the bath : 

" Their necks and limbs from stains of toil they cleansed, 
And, so refreshed and purified, their last 
Ablution in bright tepid baths performed. 
Each thus completely laved, and with smooth oil 
Anointed, at the well-sroread board they sat, 
And quaffed, in honour of Minerva, wine 
Delicious, from the brimming beaker drawn. "§ 

•Herod, iv. 75. f Ibid. Note 82. J Ibid. § Homer's n. x. 



RETURN FROM THE HAREMS. 



435 




Oriental Costume. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



Visit to the Harems. — Bathing and Dancing. — Importance 
of the Veil. — Ladies of the " Higher Circles.^' — Harems 
of the Patriarchs. — Seraglio of the Sultan, and his hun- 
dred Wives. — Harem of Mehemet Ali, and its Dissolution. 
— Banishment of Egyptian Prostitutes, and Effervescence 
of English Spleen. 

The ladies returned at a late hour ; and, with one 
exception, all were delighted with their reception and 
discoveries at the harems. They found the fair pris- 
oners of these establishments adorned with precious 
jewels and costly attire, seated upon the floor, with 
their pipes in their mouths, listening to the soft mur- 
murs of gushing fountains, and surrounded by nu- 
merous female slaves, all in dazzling costume. Their 
reception was cordial and hearty, though the princi- 



436 AN INVITATION TO DANCE. 

pals Jid not rise from their seats. Indeed, that may 
have been a difficult thing ; for the real belles of the 
harem are literally immoveable mountains of fat. 

In one house, after sherbet and coffee had gone 
round, the guests were invited to dance. The Eng- 
lish ladies readily assented to this proposition on 
condition that the inmates of the harem, or rather 
those whose obesity did not constitute them " perma- 
nent fixtures," would join them. Preliminaries hav- 
ing been easily arranged, the ladies, regaled with the 
sounds of the tambourine and darabookah, com- 
menced the mazy dance. The young ladies, and the 
Misses Wrinklebottom and Rimtaper in particular, 
acquitted themselves with infinite credit, and amused 
the Egyptians beyond measure. 

The Misses Rimtaper and Wrinklebottom were all 
tall, without any protuberances of surface, and of 
nearly the same circumference throughout their en 
tire altitude. This style of figure pleased the Egyp- 
tian ladies wondrously ; and after the dance was over 
they proposed to dismantle one of the Misses Wrinkle- 
bottom, under pretence of studying the English fash- 
ion of dress. The young lady, however, positively re- 
fused. Desisting from their importunities with Miss 
Wrinklebottom, they took off their own jewellery and 
many articles of their clothing, exhibiting one thing 
after another to their guests for their amusement, 
whom they expected to see imitate their example. 
None of the ladies, however, were inclined to indulge 
this curiosity. 

These endeavours at nudation proving abortive, 



MRS. WRINKLEBOTTOM AT THE BATH. 437 

the Egyptians next proposed the kixuries of the bath. 
This civility was also decUned by all excepting Mrs. 
Wrinklebottom ; she, not having taken a bath since 
her departure from England, and thinking a warm 
ablution might be serviceable to her, politely availed 
herself of this opportunity for initiation into the mys- 
teries of an Egyptian bath. 

She entered the bathing-room attended by five or 
six black slaves, who somewhat coarsely disrobed 
her, and commenced their operations in a manner 
that shocked her nerves, and seemed to endanger her 
personal safety. Still weak from the effects of her 
late injury, she was a mere bawble in the hands of 
the Nubian girls, and they tossed, patted, dragged, 
thumped, rubbed, scrubbed, raked, and scraped her, 
till the poor woman was in a pitiable plight. They 
cracked every joint in her frame ; and when they 
brought their cracking skill to bear upon her back 
and neck, she thought they were about to sever her 
head from her shoulders. 

In the mean time, the young Egyptian ladies, anx- 
ious to participate in the amusement, left the saloon, 
flocked about her, minutely inspecting her person, 
and assisted the slaves in poaching her flesh to a 
jelly. After which they seized the various articles 
of her toilet, and commenced a destructive investi- 
gation of every object in detail : petticoat, chemise, 
cape, cap, collar, shawl, bonnet, shoes, stockings, stays, 
and satchel, all passed unceremoniously from hand to 
hand among the crowd. They even began to rip 



438 SORROWS OF MRS. WRINKLEBOTTOM. 

certain articles to pieces, in order to study more sat- 
isfactorily their construction ! 

It has seldom fallen to the lot of lovely woman to 
be more unhappily situated than was Mrs. Wrinkle- 
bottom in the bath. Exhausted and faint with its 
frightful process ; still in the hands of her tormentors, 
who continued to pommel her poor frame ; no one 
near who understood her language ; and her clothes 
literally torn in shreds ! — she thought her time had 
verily arrived. She resolved to make a desperate 
effort to rescue herself and garments from the 
hands of the barbarians ; and, strange to say, suc- 
ceeded. She looked upon her escape, however, as 
being effected through the agency of some super- 
natural power. When she was ushered back to the 
drawing-room, she was an altered person. Her ap- 
pearance was doleful indeed. She could scarcely 
stand alone ; her garments were in great disorder, and 
some of them hung in tatters ! The ladies imme- 
diately took leave, and returned with her to her 
lodgings. 

The Egyptian ladies have little freedom of action, 
being seldom permitted to walk the streets unattend- 
ed by the eunuchs who watch the harems ; and then 
they are smothered in long thick veils and cumber- 
some robes, which conceal every part of the person 
except the eyes. 

So essential is the veil to the Egyptians, that it is 
considered far more disreputable for a woman to ex- 
pose her face to the view of strangers than any other 
part of her person !* On this account, one not unfre- 

• Lane's Modem Egyptians, i. 245, 



IMPORTANCE OF THE VEIL. 439 

quently witnesses the peasant-women covering their 
faces on the approach of a man, while their legs and 
breasts are bare, and little or no covering is seen upon 
their bodies. Indeed, if their faces are concealed, they 
give themselves very little concern about other parts. 




An Egyptian Lady, attired for the Promenade, 

The hideous custom of veiling the face, now in- 
dicative of virtue among the Moslems, was considered, 
in the days of Jacob, a sure sign of immorahty, the 
veil being hung out upon harlots, as in the case of 
Tamar,* Judah's daughter-in-law ; whom, in his way 
as he went up to the sheep-shearers to Timnath, he 
met : and " when Judah saw her, he thought her to 

* Gen. xxxviii. 14, 15. 



440 LADIES OF THE « HIGHER CIRCLES." 

be an harlot, because she had covered her face. She 
had put her widow's garments off from her, and cov- 
ered her with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in 
an open place." 

When the ladies of the " higher circles" go out, 
they are so disguised that they cannot be recognised 
by their nearest friends. Sometimes the more opu- 
lent are seen upon donkeys ; then their appearance is 
indeed unique. Their head-dress, masks, and orna- 
ments, being adjusted ; their eyebrows and lashes in- 
geniously touched with kokl ; their feet and hands 
embellished with henna ; their slippers and yellow 
boots put on ; and all being enveloped in a capacious 
black silk covering, with every part concealed from 
view except their eyes (not even the hands are seen), 
they are mounted upon donkeys, with high saddles, 
where they are not unfrequently held by the eunuchs 
who accompany them. 

Thus they go out for exercise and complimentary 
visits. Their figure is rather ridiculous, as they ride 
through the little narrow streets of a Turkish city, 
resembling bales of merchandise done up in cloaks, 
with painted eyes, rather than ladies of quality. 

Such is the custom of the country ; nor do I think, 
with the exception of their being half smothered in 
the abominable masks, that they present a more re- 
markable figure than the ladies of civilized nations, 
decked in some of the modern fashions and whimsi- 
calities — for both are absurd, and obnoxious to good 
taste. This, however, is the only way in which a 
Moslem lady of " standing" can go abroad. As she 



HIGH-BORN EQUESTRIANS. 



441 



seldom goes outside the town, she reaps Httle advan- 
tage from the change of air ; since that, in the stived- 
up, fikhj streets, is scarcely more pure than that of 
the confined apartments of her own dwelling. 




Moslem ladies are never taught to read, and seldom 
even so much as to say their prayers. Consequently 
the door to intellectual improvement and all literary 

Vol. L — 56 



442 PLURALITY OF WIVES. 

enjoyment is shut against them. They are watched 
Uke birds in a cage, fed Uke beasts in a den, live in 
sufferance, never in the confidence of their husbands, 
and see Uttle of their society but when required to min- 
ister to their caprice and pleasures. Can a condition 
more painful than this be depicted 1 Death, under 
ordinary circumstances, were preferable ; and even 
with the absolution of some Tetzel-vender of indul- 
gences, being broken upon the wheel of the pontifical 
inquisition, amid the corruptions and enormities of 
the dark ages, could hardly be worse. 

" Solomon loved many strange women, together 
with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moab- 
ites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites. 
And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and 
three hundred concubines."* — "David had seven 
wives and ten concubines, and David took him more 
concubines and wives out of Jerusalem after he was 
come from Hebron."t And Rehoboam had eighteen 
wives and sixty concubines.J Abraham, also, besides 
his wife Sarah, by whom he had Isaac, who heired 
his estates, had two concubines, Hagar and Keturah, 
by whom also he had children.§ And " Abijah waxed 
mighty, and married fourteen wives." || 

Thus it appears that a multiplicity of wives was 
not uncommon among the patriarchs and Jews; — 
though under the dispensation of the Saviour, this 
abominable custom was abolished, and the matrimo- 
nial state brought back to its primitive simplicity.! 

• 1 Kings xi. 1, 3. f 2 Sam. iii. 2-5 : v. 13. t 2 Chron. xi. 21. 
§ Gen. xvi 3 : xxv. 1. H 2 Chron. xiii. 21. IT Gen. ii. 18, 21, 24, J ^ 



EVILS OF POLYGAMY. 443 

Since that period, though polygamy is justly con- 
demned, and is no longer the custom of civilized na- 
tions ; yet, among Mohammedans, nothing is more 
conimon than for a man to have four wives and a 
numerous train of concubines ! 

We have abundant testimony, in every age of the 
world, to prove the evils of this pernicious custom ; 
and that it has been attended with infinite mischief 
both to individuals and communities. In Abraham's* 
family it created a schism which no gratification or 
advantage arising from his having more than one 
wife could possibly compensate. 

To Solomon it wis the source of the greatest evils, 
both to himself and the kingdom of Judah. His heart 
was turned away from the Lordf through the influ- 
ence of his strange women ; and but for his fatherj 
David's sake, his kingdom would have been taken 
from him in his old age. It was no doubt under a 
deep conviction of this folly, and in allusion to the 
condemnation of heaven for allowing his heart to 
become corrupt through their seductive influences, 
that he pronounced these remarkable words : " The 
mouth of strange women is a deep pit ; he that is ab- 
horred of the Lord shall fall therein. The lips of a 
strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth 
is smoother than oil ; but her end is bitter as worm- 
wood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down 
to death ; her steps take hold on hell."§ 

The perplexities and sorrow of David, occasioned 
by his love of strange women, are proverbial. 

• Gen. xxi. 9 11. f 1 Kings xi. 4, 7, 8, 9. — Nehemiah xiii. 26. 

t 1 Kings xi. 2-4. § Prov. xxii. 14 : v. 3-5. 



444 EVILS OF POLYGAMY. 

The children of Israel were led into difficulty, and 
cursed with a devastating plague, on account of the 
trespasses which they committed against the Lord, 
at the instigation of the Midianitish women."^ 

The spirit of jealousy and backbiting on account 
of the Ethiopian woman, one of the wives of Moses, 
was fraught with evil, though this marriage was jus- 
tified of the Lord, who visited Aaron and Miriam 
with his judgments. 

The Jews, after enjoying a variety of good and 
bad fortune ; sometimes exalted to heaven, as it were, 
and then suffering in bondage, were full of affliction 
in the days of Ezraf on account of their " strange 
wives." Other instances might be mentioned, were 
it necessary, wherein the inhabitants of the old world 
were brought into sore difficulties on account of too 
many strange women. Those of the present day 
who still indulge in a multiplicity of wives, are often- 
times no less perplexed and in doubt how to dispose 
of the schisms that spring up in the bosom of the 
harem. 

While marriage, under the abuses with which Mo- 
hammedans still entangle it, and with which the an- 
cients were no less prone to envelope it, has seldom 
in any age resulted otherwise than in dishonour and 
afflictions, — marriage, as instituted by God, in the 
first setting out of man, and restored, confirmed, and 
blessed by Jesus Christ, is conducive to the happiness 
and civilization of mankind. Nevertheless it is cu- 
rious to examine this peculiarity of the East, which 

* Num. xxxi. 16. t Ezra a. 1, 2. 



THE PACHA OF SALONIOA. 445 

illustrates, in no small degree, the strange state of 
society in the land of the patriarchs. 

When we were in Hebron, we passed two nights 
and a day at the house of a man who had four wives. 
We saw them and all their numerous progeny. None 
of these ladies were what would be called handsome 
among our fair and gentle countrywomen ; and the 
withered, downcast individual, who was at the head of 
the estabUshment, was the personification of misery. 

In contemplating this unhappy family, crowded to- 
gether in a state of confusion and filth, the thought 
suggested itself that such, in some respects, might 
have been the domestic circle of the Psalmist, living 
in a state of polygamy in the same city ; when " unto 
David were sons born in Hebron : and his first-born 
was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess ; and his 
second Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Car- 
melite ; and the third, Absalom, the son of Maacah, 
the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur ; and the 
fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggith ; and the fifth, 
Shephatiah, the son of Abital ; and the sixth, Ith- 
ream, by Eglah, David's wife. These were born to 
David in Hebron."* This has probably been the cus- 
tom of the Hebronites ever since the time of Abraham. 

While on our way from Smyrna to Constantinople, 
we had but just entered the Dardanelles, when the 
Pacha of Salonica came on board with his wives and 
their " maids of honour," comprising some sixteen in 
all, who, together with their offspring, cradles, and 
napkins, took up their quarters on deck. The loving 

* 2 Samuel iii. 2-5. 



446 THE SULTAN OF TURKEY. 

husband was handsomely provided with a good state- 
room in the gentlemen s cabin. The Pacha scarcely 
spoke to his wives while on board ; and when they 
left the steamer, his women were placed in charge of 
some under servants, while he went on shore with 
much form, accompanied by armed janizaries. 

The harems of eastern princes are upon a mag- 
nificent scale : they include the handsomest women 
in the realm, w^ho are kept in a state of seclusion — 
never seen unveiled, except by the lord of the harem, 
or some very near relatives. They are richly attired, 
and adorned with pearls and precious jewels. 

The harem of the Sultan of Turkey is closed at 
his death, and his women pass the remainder of their 
days in all the retirement of the most rigid commu- 
nity of nuns. Their fate is Hke that of David's " ten 
concubines whom he had left to keep the house, and 
put them in ward and fed them, but went not in unto 
them ; so they were shut up unto the day of their 
death."* 

Upon the accession of a prince to the throne, he 
commences a new harem. It is thus with the present 
Sultan, who, at the time we were in Constantinople, 
had been upon the throne scarcely nine months ; and 
yet he had one hundred wives and concubines ! To 
this round number, each of the pachas, as they came 
to Constantinople with the accustomed tribute, ac- 
companied it with one or more of the fairest girls in 
their respective pachaUcs, as presents to his Serene 
Highness. Consequently, this debauched creature, 

•2 Samuel XX. 3. 



COMPETITION OF THE SULTAN'S WIVES. 447 

diseased and declining with excess — whose attenua- 
ted frame seemed but a shadow, around wdiich his 
long black cloak assumed the collapsed form of a 
blanket swung over a stake — is in a fair way to en- 
sure himself an early grave, and to make generous 
additions to the public burden. 

Nine months had scarcely elapsed after his acces- 
sion to the throne, when the inhabitants of Constan- 
tinople were big wdth expectation for the result. 
Preparations for a general illumination were com- 
pleted ; and the full-charged guns of the Turkish 
fleet, drawn up in front of the Golden Horn, were 
ready to breathe forth their thunders at the first offi- 
cial signal of a new-born prince. 

While this anxious watching of the mountain agi- 
tated the Moslems ivitlwut, there was no little excite- 
ment existing ivithin the walls of the seraglio. A 
strong competition prevailed among the Sultan's wo- 
men for the honour of giving birth to the heir-appa- 
rent. There was nearly a tie between some eight or 
ten of them ; or, as the English jockeys say, " they 
were neck and neck." It was a matter of the great- 
est uncertainty which of them all would be the fa- 
voured one. The time of all was near at hand, and 
each was anxious to come out ahead. There was one 
whose chance for the prize, in a fair, honest course, 
was as good as any of the other hundred better halves 
of the Sultan, if not better. She, however, at the 
suggestion of some silly person, had the folly to take 
some kind of nostrum, with a view to bring on her 
labours before the time. Instead of an heir to the 



448 HAREM OF MEHEMET ALL 

throne, by this proceeding she produced an abor- 
tion ; and she, poor thing, instead of a crown of hon- 
our, received a watery grave. She was thrown into 
the Bosphorus ! 

Mehemet Ali, though a mere governor of a part 
of the Turkish empire, had, until within the three or 
four years last past, one of the best-regulated harems 
in the Orient. In point of splendid costume, it might 
not equal the brilHancy appertaining to the seraglio. 
But, touching the no trifling matter of pretty women, 
he is said to have quite outstripped the Grand Seign- 
ior. It was under the direction of his three most es- 
teemed wives, by all of whom he has had children. 
They took a deep interest in it ; and, being charmed 
by its varied attractions, they deeply regretted its dis- 
solution. 

" There is," says Solomon, " to every thing a sea- 
son, and a time for every purpose under heaven ; a 
time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones 
together ; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain 
from embracing ; a time to love, and a time to hate."* 
— "The time has come," said his physician to the 
Pacha, "when you must abandon the harem, or pre- 
pare for death !" 

This was an unexpected blow. The harem was 
a darling hobby with his esteemed wives ; and hu- 
manity, if not affection, had warmed the Pacha into 
more than an ordinary regard for all its inmates. 
Doubtless some of the women had a stronger hold 
upon his sympathies than others ; but. after an inti- 

• Ecd. iii. 1, 5, 8, 9. 



ITS DISSOLUTION. 449 

macy for a succession of years, in a country where 
these establishments are regarded as the most sacred 
thing pertaining to a Turk ; and considering that the 
Pacha was raised among them, — possessed of the 
strong predilection in their favour common to his 
countrymen, — he must have been even worse than 
the " blood-thirsty tyrant" that the English represent 
him, not to have been touched at the idea of turning 
them out unprotected upon the world. To cage them 
up, like the women of the old Sultan, struck him as 
being little better than death ; or rather, it was a kind 
of entombment of his old favourites, with the breath 
of life still active and gnawing upon their minds with 
all the horrors of a thousand deaths. Nor was it a 
trifling thing to overcome the vanity naturally at- 
tendant upon keeping up a brilliant harem. 

In the East, every man of fortune is expected to 
be master of a harem, proportionate in splendour to 
his reputed wealth. To abandon it, therefore, alto- 
gether, can be scarcely less mortifying to the pride 
of an orientalist, than for an Enghsh lord to give up 
his horses and hounds, and the red plush breeches and 
powdered wigs of his servants ; or for a worthless 
rake of New York to surrender his " turn-out" to the 
sheriff. These deprivations are all equally wounding 
to the feelings of men of a certain stamp ; for they 
are looked upon as essential to " keeping up appear- 
ances." 

A crisis had arrived in the affairs of the Pacha, 
requiring the sacrifice of his harem, and he resolved 
to make it manfully. His wives, perceiving their 

Vol. I. — 57 



450 DISPOSITION OF THE PACHA'S WOMEN. 

master decided, wisely entered into his views, with 
the secret hope, doubtless, of bringing out a new 
harem, at some future day, even more briUiant and 
attractive than that which they were called upon to 
abandon. The Pacha told them that he was about 
to marry off all the women, and to endow each with 
a sum of money ; and said that he would furnish the 
money and the men, and leave to them the trifling 
task of pairing the parties, and paying out the wed- 
ding dowries. 

This was a poor consolation ; but, since it was all 
that they could reasonably expect under the circum- 
stances, the wives submitted with a grace becoming 
their exalted standing. Indeed, it was rather flatter- 
ing to their vanity ; for it evinced a continuance of 
the Pacha's esteem for them, though about to dissolve 
for ever his connexion with all his other women. 

The ladies were to be married to the officers of the 
army ; and it was arranged that the grooms should 
file along through the regal apartments at a certain 
hour, and that the wives, intrusted with the important 
commission of deciding to whom of the fair each of 
the sons of Mars was to be wedded, should sit in an 
adjoining room, concealed from the gaze of the offi- 
cers ; but, at the same time, where they could have full 
view of the latter, and then book the parties, who, in 
their opinion, judging from appearance, were best suit- 
ed to be united with each other for life. This plan 
having been consummated, and the ladies apprized 
of their destiny, the Pacha commanded the attend- 
ance of the officers designated for the honour ; in- 



MARRIAGE FESTIVITIES. 451 

formed them of his pleasure, and ordered them to the 
harem for exhibition before the lady umpires. 

This mark of distinction was wholly unexpected ; 
and the regret of the officers at the dissolution of the 
harem was as deep as that of the wives of his High- 
ness, or the women with whom they were about to 
form " matrimonial connexions." Long used to the 
dangers and pleasures of the camp, to which thou- 
sands of females are always attached, they had little 
felt the want of wives, nor had they been assiduous 
in cultivating a taste for the sweets of the conjugal 
state. 

Their position was not unlike those who may be 
compelled to take office against their will ; or perhaps 
more like that of poor Burns ; who, having been raised 
by his Majesty's government to the important station 
of ganger, was emphatically told by the nobles then 
in power, that he " had been elevated to office to act, 
not to think !" Thus it was with the officers of his 
Highness : the command had gone forth, and there 
was no alternative but to obey. 

The nuptial hour arrived ; the officers appeared, 
and received their respective wives and their dow- 
ries ; the old harem resounded with music ; festivity 
crowned the closing day, and hermetically sealed 
the Pacha's harem for ever. And all the eloquence 
of his wives has not been able to re-open it. 

The Pacha had no sooner resolved to live a virtu- 
ous life himself, than he commenced a reform among 
his subjects. He restricted every man to the laioful 
number of four wives, and such " maids of honour" 



452 NOVEL OBJECT OF ENGLISH SPLEEN. 

as their circumstances would enable them to support. 
Accordingly, with this laudable object in view, he 
banished all prostitutes from Lower Egypt, and de- 
creed death to all who might thereafter infringe this 
moral regulation. 

This proceeding, as I was informed, produced great 
commotion among the Franks, particularly the Eng- 
lish, who immediately found Cairo the dullest, "nas- 
tiest," and most unpleasant place in the Orient; — 
" there were no amusements." 

Some of them thought a " formal complaint" ought 
to have been at once forwarded to his Excellency the 
EngUsh ambassador at Constantinople. Others were 
of opinion that a petition to her Majesty was the bet- 
ter mode of procedure. Others again, more deeply 
vexed at this " high-handed measure," as they termed 
it, thought the subject sufficiently grave to justify her 
Majesty in sending out " ten sail of the hne," with a 
" formal demand" for the immediate restoration of the 
public women, accompanied with orders to blockade 
Alexandria forthwith, in case of the Pacha's refusal 
to comply with this extremely modest request. They 
insisted that her Majesty's government was bound to 
protect the rights of all " her loyal subjects" in every 
part of the world ; and that this was an oppressive 
grievance, which called for immediate reparation, or 
bold and prompt warlike measures. There were oth- 
ers who, though languishing with ennui, and greatly 
displeased at the new regulation, were nevertheless 
for diplomatic temporizing. They were wisely of 
opinion that, unless an opium question or something 



ENGLISH EFFERVESCENCE. 453 

else could be connected with it, this of itself could 
hardly form a justifiable pretext for war ; and were 
her Majesty to commence hostilities against his High- 
ness the Pacha for this alone, they were fearful that 
it might make an unfavourable impression on the 
minds of other nations. These were fiercely replied 
to by the more desperate of her Majesty's subjects, 
who said : — 

"What the devil does England 'care for other na- 
tions 1 If other nations have any thing to say about 
England's doing as she pleases, why, that can be ar- 
ranged at the cannon's mouth, under the * wooden 
walls.' — ' Ten sail of the line' will settle this busi- 
ness directly. England is not to be insulted; and if 
the vested rights of ' her Majesty's loyal subjects' are 
to be thus trampled under foot, * where is the dignity 
of her Imperial Majesty's crown?' — 'Englishmen 
have but one word ;' they are not to be trifled with. 
No ! we are for no half-way, temporizing measures. 
* Ten sail of the line,' a * formal demand,' and abso- 
lute, positive war — war to the hilt, unless our griev- 
ances are forthwith redressed, and suitable guarantees 
given by the Pacha that henceforth and for ever here- 
after, all ' her Majesty's loyal subjects' who may visit 
Egypt for amusement, business, * scientific research' 
(such as violating tombs and robbing temples), or any 
other purpose whatsoever, shall be respected ; and 
their rights, privileges, and innocent amusements shall 
remain inalienable, sacred, and undisturbed." 

This made a terrible noise at the time, and the fi*a- 
gile-nerved part of the community thought war would 



454 THE « GREAT POWERS." 

be the consequence ; but the Englishmen subsequent-- 
ly came into the slave-market as competitors with 
the Turks for the " cleverest" Nubian and other fe- 
male slaves ; and the whole affair happily blew over 
without bloodshed. 

The regulation of the prostitutes of Egypt is now 
about the only thing that remains undisturbed by the 
"Great Powers" — who, under pretence of maintain- 
ing what they sophistically call " the balance of pow- 
er" (i. e. to balance all power in their own hands), 
have cut up the Pacha's dominions, dashed the scep- 
tre from his hands, substituted anarchy for order, sti- 
fled the voice of reform, and arrested the progress of 
civilization. 




John Bull in a Fume. 



ani 



RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE. 455. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Religious Intolerance. — Apostacy of Women punished with 
Death. — Infidelity legally protected. — Penalty of Babbling 
and Backbiting. — State of Female Society. — Effects of 
Public Opinion, — Fashion and Finery of the Old Egyp' 
Hans. — Exalted Privilege of the Ancient Women of Egypt. 
— JVbreZ Mode of punishing Delinquents. 

" The Prophet did not forbid wo7nen to attend pub- 
lic prayers in a mosque, but pronounced it better for 
them to pray in private ; but in Cairo, neither females 
nor young boys are allowed to pray with the congre- 
gation in the mosques, nor even to be present at any 
time of prayer. Formerly, women were permitted, 
but were obliged to place themselves apart from the 
men, and behind the latter; because the Moslems are 
of opinion, that the presence of females inspires a 
different kind of devotion from that which is requisite 
in a place dedicated to the worship of God. Very 
few women in Egypt ever pray at all."* How- 
ever small the part which the Egyptian women are 
allowed to share in public worship, they are never- 

• Lane's Modem Egyptians, i. 117. 



456 PUNISHMENT OF APOSTACi. 

theless held accountable for their apostacy from the 
inculcated creed and dogmas of Mohammedanism. 
Apostacy is considered one of the most heinous sins ; 
and nothing short of the death of the inflexible apos- 
tate is regarded as a sufficient atonement for an of- 
fence of such enormity. 

Mr. Lane says : " I once saw a woman paraded 
through the streets of Cairo, and afterward taken 
down to the Nile to be drowned, for having aposta- 
tized from the faith of Mohammed, and having mar- 
ried a Christian. Unfortunately, a blue cross which 
she had tattooed on her arm, led to her detection by 
one of her former friends, in a bath. She was mount- 
ed upon a high-saddled ass, such as ladies in Egypt 
usually ride, and very respectably dressed, attended 
by soldiers, and surrounded by a rabble, who, instead 
of commiserating, uttered loud imprecations against 
her. The ckadee, who passed sentence upon her, 
exhorted her, in vain, to return to her former faith. 
Her own father was her accuser ! She was taken 
in a boat to the midst of the river, stripped nearly 
naked, strangled, and then thrown into the stream."* 

Detected infidelity seldom meets a punishment less 
fearful than awaits the fair delinquent in religious 
faith. As four Moslem witnesses, however, are re- 
quired to bring this serious charge effectually home 
to the unfaithful spouse, the Egyptian ladies are sel- 
dom found otherwise than pure, legally speaking, 
in regard to all breaches of faithfulness toward their 
lords. 

* Lane's Modern Egyptians, i. 147. 



INFIDELITY LEGALLY PROTECTED. 457 

The requisition of four eye-ioitnesses, to establish a 
charge of unfaithfulness, is said to have been decreed 
by the Prophet, to meet an accusation of that kind 
brought against his own wife. She was consequently 
honourably absolved from punishment ; and subse- 
quent " revelations" cleared her character from every 
malicious stain that had settled upon it through the 
vile calumniators of her fair name. 

Such a law may appear to be extraordinary ; but I 
suppose it was promulgated by the Prophet on pretty 
much the same principle that actuated the Pope of 
Rome under somewhat similar circumstances, per- 
haps, wherein sixty-four witnesses were required to 
convict a cardinal of adultery — a law which was 
sure to keep the cardinals quite above suspicion. 

The penalty and mode of punishing convicted 
adulterers and adulteresses among the modern Egyp- 
tians are the same as were promulgated in the old 
Levitical law,* and observed by the Jews, even after 
the birth of the Saviour ;t though in cases of male de- 
linquents, the penalty of death is rarely or never ex- 
acted. But the women, who have been found guilty 
of a crime so revolting, seldom escape the utmost 
rigour of the law. Their nearest relatives are often 
their accusers and executioners ! 

" When a Fellah is found to have been unfaithful 
to her husband, in general he or her brother throws 
her into the Nile, with a stone tied to her neck ; or 
cuts her in pieces, and then throws her remains into 
the river. In most instances, also, a father or brother 

• Lev. XX. 10. f John Tiii. 5 

Vol. L — 58 



458 A CAUTION TO BACKBITERS. 

punishes in the same manner an unmarried daughter 
or sister who has been guiUy of incontinence. These 
relatives are considered more disgraced than the hus- 
band by the crime of the woman, and are often de- 
spised if they do not thus punish her/'* 

The salutary provision of the Prophet, wherein 
he has declared four eye-witnesses to the fact re- 
quisite to the conviction of the accused, naturally 
renders the legal infraction of it rather rare. In- 
deed, so well did Mohammed hedge round this odious 
crime, it is dangerous for slanderers idly to babble 
about their fair neighbours, unless they have four 
faithful Moslem witnesses that they can rely upon to 
estabhsh what they may have intended only to utter 
in a corner. 

The Koranf has the following favourable clause 
in behalf of the women, which hangs fearfully over 
the heads of wanton backbiting babblers, who may 
desire to injure the good name of the fair sex with- 
out a cause, or rather without being able to con- 
vict the fair subject of the crime alleged against 
her : — " Those who accuse women of reputation, 
and produce not four witnesses, scourge them with 
eighty stripes, and receive not their testimony for 
ever, for such an infamous prevarication, excepting 
those who shall afterward repent ; for God is gracious 
and merciful. They who shall accuse their wives, 
and shall have no witness besides themselves, the tes- 
timony of one of them, that he swear four times by 
God that he speaketh the truth and the faith, the 

• Lane's Modern Egyptians, i. 272. f Chap. xxiv. 2-9. 



STATE OF FEMALE SOCIETY. 459 

curse of God on him if he be a liar ; and it shall 
avert the punishment, if she swear four times by God 
that he is a liar, and if the fifth, the wrath of God on 
her if he speak the truth." 

It is also provided that unmarried people convict- 
ed of this offence, be punished by scourging with 
one hundred stripes. Sometimes married women, 
guilty of infidelity, are privately put to death, even 
without being legally convicted of the crime. 

Many ancient and modern authors, who have writ- 
ten with much intelligence upon the customs of the 
Egyptians, have informed us that women, in the glo- 
rious days of Egypt, occupied a position scarcely 
less honourable than the rank they hold in civilized 
countries at the present day. They were allowed 
much more freedom, and exercised a much greater 
influence over the men, than was ever enjoyed by 
the women of Greece, even in her most polished and 
refined age, or of Rome at any period of her impe- 
rial splendour. 

The ancient Egyptians indulged a strange license 
respecting the number of wives that each might pos- 
sess. But public opinion failed not to correct an evil 
that was not properly provided for by judicial enact- 
ments. It was considered no less disreputable for a 
man to have two wives in Egypt than it is with us at 
the present time, where it is justly regarded as an 
infamous crime. 

The women of Egypt, three thousand years ago, 
are said to have exhibited a fondness for dress that 
would not dishonour the best regulated taste, in mat- 



460 



FINERY OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 



ters of that kind, of the ladies of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. At their parties, as pictured upon the walls 
of the tombs of Thebes, the ladies are represented, 
admiring their jewels and finery, with no less inter- 
est than such things are often dwelt upon by the 
ladies of this enlightened age. 




Rings, Signets, Bracelets, and Ear-kings of the Ancient Egyptians. 

Mr. Wilkinson* says : " The patterns or the value 
of trinkets were discussed with proportionate interest. 
The maker of an ear-ring, and the shop where it was 
purchased, were anxiously inquired ; each compared 
the workmanship, the style, and the material of those 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii. 366, 367. 



DOWRIES OF ANCIENT QUEENS. 461 

she wore, coveted her neighbour's, or preferred her 
own ; and women of every class vied with each other 
in the display of jewels of silver and jewels of gold,* 
in the texture of their ' raiment,' the neatness of their 
sandals, and the arrangement or beauty of their hair."t 

Diodorus says that the revenues accruing from the 
fisheries of the lake Moeris, after that monarch " had 
arranged the sluices for the introduction of the water, 
and estabhshed every thing connected with it, he as- 
signed, as an annual dowry to the queen, for the pur- 
chase of jewels, ointments, and other objects connect- 
ed with the toilet.J The provision certainly was 
very liberal, being a talent every day, or upward of 
£70,700 sterling a year ; and where this formed only 
a portion of the pin-money of the Egyptian queens, 
to whom the revenues of the city of Anthylla, famous 
for its wines, were given for their dress, it is certain 
that they had no reason to complain of the allowance 
they enjoyed."§ The same privilege was continued 
to the queens of Egypt after the Persian conquest. 

If such was the liberality of the Pharaohs to the 
queens of Egypt, it is not unreasonable to suppose 
that the opulent citizens were equally indulgent in 
proportion to their wealth ; and that they lavished 
large sums upon their wives and daughters for ob- 
jects of dress, jewelry, and other finery. 

* Exod. xii. 35. 

t The Egi'ptian women appear to have been very proud of their hair, and 
locks of it, -when very long, were sometimes cut off and wrapped up sepa- 
rately, to be buried in their tombs after death. 

t Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, iii. 64. 

§ The queen of England has an annual income of about $3,000,000 1 



462 ANCIENT FEMALE PRIVILEGES. 

From the great amount of jewels* borrowed by the 
IsraeUtes when they fled from Egypt, we may infer 
that it was not unusual for the Egyptian ladies to deck 
themselves with ornaments. They not only indulged 
in the richest articles of dress, and jewels, but they 
were allowed to come out into the world, and to 
mingle in society. Representations of social enter- 
tainments are frequent on the tombs. 

" We find," says Wilkinson, " men and women 
sitting together, both strangers as well as members 
of the same family ; a privilege not conceded to fe- 
males among the Greeks, except with their relations. 
This not only argues a very great advancement in 
civilization, especially in an eastern nation, but 
proves, among many other Egyptian customs, how 
very far this people exceed the Greeks in the habits 
of social life."t 

The women of Egypt were welcome guests at the 
festive board ; where, if the paintings that represent 
those scenes are to receive literal credence, they 
were not forbidden the use of wine — which they in- 
dulged in occasionally, until their situation became 
scarcely less enviable than the Englishmen, who, a 
^car or two since, committed such abominations in 
the palace of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. They, 
like all the descendants.of Eve, were not exempt from 
the weaknesses of their common mother, and could 
not withstand all sorts of temptation, any more than 

• Exod. xi. 2 : — " Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man 
%otrow of his neighbour, and every woman of herneighbour, jewels of silver 
and jewels of gold." 

t Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii. 389. 



MALE AND FEMALE EXCESSES. 



463 



the other sex. Consequently, while the men are 
sometimes represented on the walls of the tombs, re- 
turning home from a drinking party, borne along in 





Returning Home 

a state of intoxication by their servants, the ladies are 
seen supported by their maids, throwing off from their 
acidiferous stomachs that redundancy of poisonous 
fluid in which they in an evil hour had too freely 
indulged. 




After Dinner. 



The women of Greece* were not permitted to ap- 
pear at any of their entertainments, except those to 
which relatives only were invited ; " and, in early 

• Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii. 389. 



464 PRIVILEGES OF ANCIENT LADIES. 

times at Rome, it was unlawful for women, or indeed 
for young men below the age of thirty, to drink wine, 
except at sacrifices. And so scrupulous were they 
on this point, in the time of Romulus, that Egnatius 
Mecennius caused his wife to be put to death for in- 
fringing this law, as if guilty of a crime.* While 
the imperious Romans were guilty of such barbarity 
toward the ladies, we are assured that the Egyptians, 
in their contracts of marriage, gave authority to their 
wives over their husbands, at which time the hus- 
bands promised to be obedient to their wives in all 
things."t 

"In this country," says Herodotus, "the women 
leave to the men the management of the loom in the 
retirement of the house, whilst they themselves are 
engaged abroad in the business of commerce/'J The 
honour of ascending the throne\vas conceded by the 
Egyptians to the ladies at a very remote period ; 
" and it was a custom among them," says Diodorus, 
" to honour a queen, and allow her more power and 
authority than a king."§ But however great were the 
privileges and powerful was the authority exercised 
by the higher classes of the ancient Egyptian women, 
there were nevertheless those among them who were 
doomed to incessant toil, under circumstances little 
less deplorable than those which surround the de- 
generate females of modern Egypt. 

During the early ages of the world, the duties and 
occupations of women varied very considerably from 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii. 166. 

t Diod. i. 33. ' t Herod, ii. 35. § Diod. i. 32, 



EMPLOYMENTS OF WOMEN. 



465 



those of a later and more civilized period, and were 
regulated according to the peculiar manners and hab- 
its of different communities. " Among pastoral tribes, 




they drew water, kept the sheep, and superintended 
the herds as well as the flocks. As with the x4rabs of 
the present day, they prepared both the furniture and 
the stuffs of which the tents themselves were made ; 
and like the Greek women, they were generally em- 
ployed in weaving, spinning, and other sedentary oc- 
cupations within doors. Needle-work and embroide- 
VoL. I. — 59 



466 



WOMEN USING THE DISTAFF. 



ry were favourite amusements of the Grecian wo- 
men, in which it is highly probable the Egyptian la- 
dies occupied much of their time ; and we have posi- 
tive evidence, from the sculptures, of numerous fe- 
males being employed in weaving and in the use of 
the distaff But Egyptian women were not kept in 



/ffil 





nn. 



Egyptian Women using the DiSTArr. 

the same secluded manner as those of ancient Greece; 
who, besides being confined to a particular part of 
the house, the most remote from the hall of entrance, 
and generally in the uppermost part of the building, 
were not even allowed to go out of doors without 
a veil, as is the case in many oriental countries at the 
present day. Newly-married women were almost as 
strictly kept as virgins ; and by the laws of Solon, no 
lady could go out at night without a lighted torch* 
before her chariot, or leave home with more than 
three garments. They were guarded by men, and 
oftentimes by old men and eunuchs ; and the seclu- 
ded life they led was very similar to that imposed up- 
on females among modern Moslems. But the Egyp- 

* No person can lawfully walk the streets of Athens in the evening with- 
out a lantern or a lighted torch, at the present day. 



EXCISION OF THE OLFACTORY ORGAN. 467 

tians treated their women very differently, and in a 
manner much more worthy of a civiUzed people."* 

The lenity and indulgence of the ancients did not 
extend so far as to blind their eyes to palpable crimes, 
which the ladies of old Egypt sometimes had the 
weakness to commit. Some of the punishments 
partook more of the barbarous feeling that pervades 
the breasts of oriental rulers of our time, than of the 
highly cultivated state of society w^hich is supposed to 
have existed in Egypt thirty-five hundred years ago. 
Death w^as seldom exacted as the penalty of crime, ex- 
cept in cases of murder.f 

A more common way of punishing women for the 
crime of adultery, was to cut off their noses. Whe- 
ther a chastisement of such severity had the effect to 
restrain crime and enforce chastity or not, all must 
concede that the penalty was savage in the extreme. 

Male delinquents, in all cases of this kind, suffered 
a bastinading to the amount of a thousand blows, ex- 
cept in cases where violence had been used against 
a free woman, when they were punished in a signal 
manner. 

In the loss of the nose, it was supposed that the 
fair would be deprived of a most useful, and if not 
always the most ornamental feature of her face, at 
least it was the last that she would desire to part 
with. In any case, it could hardly fail to detract 
considerably from her personal beauty. 

The women, however, did not enjoy an undivided 
monopoly of having their noses cut off. The privi- 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii. 59. t Ibid. ii. 39. 



468 



A CITY OF NOSELESS CONVICTS. 



lege was sometimes conferred upon the men ; who, 
by their dexterity in house-breaking, and their skill in 
robbery, exhibited claims sufficiently strong to merit 
that distinction. Diodorus informs us that " after a 
just and strict inquiry, and certain knowledge of their 
guilt, they were ordered to have their noses cut off, 
and to be banished into the uttermost parts of the 
desert ; to a city built for them, called, from the cutting 
off the noses of the inhabitants, Rhinocorura, which 
is situated in the confines of Egypt and Syria, in a 
barren place, destitute of all manner of provision."* 
Thus the lives of the culprits were spared ; and, as 
they were never allowed to return again to their na- 
tive land, but obliged to support themselves by indus- 
try in a barren and inhospitable region, all must ad- 
mit that their punishment was sufficiently striking to 
convince all that " the way of transgressors is hard." 

* Diod. i. 64. 




Nasal Embellishments. 



HELIOPOLIS. 



469 




Heliopolis. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Visit to Heliopolis, the On of the Scriptures.— The Obelisk. — 
Temple of the Sun. — Schools, Scholars, and Priests of 
Heliopolis. — The Phcenix. — Tree under which reposed the 
Holy Family. — " Mad'House.'' — Sir Danhury Rimtaper 
and the Reverend Mo'. Dunderhlix. 

Heliopolis, where Joseph * in accordance with 
the wishes of Pharaoh, married Asenath, daughter of 
Poti-pherah, priest of On, is about two hours' ride 
from Cairo. It Hes in a north-easterly direction from 
the latter, and is approached by a well-beaten path 
along the border of the Syrian desert. 

A lofty obeUsk of red granite marks the site of the 
ancient city. Though thirty-five hundred years have 
faded into oblivion since this relic of Egyptian art 
was erected, it is still as beautiful as when fresh from 
the hands of the sculptor. Like a venerable patri- 
arch, who has survived every kindred and friend, this 

* Gen. xli. 45-50. 



470 PRIESTS OF HELIOPOLIS. 

lonely object is all that now remains of the pristine 
splendour of the Temple of the Sun. Besides this, 
there is nothing left of all the by-gone glory of the 
city of On. 

Heliopolis was the ancient University, whence the 
celebrated philosophers of Greece " drew the wisdom 
of the Egyptians." 

The priests of the Temple of the Sun were re- 
nowned for their learning. They restrained them- 
selves from the use of wine, and were devoted to 
study and meditation : " hearing and teaching those 
things which regard the divine nature."* They were 
the teachers of the most celebrated Egyptians ; and 
Plato, Eudoxus, Pythagoras, and other Greek sages, 
were numbered among their scholars. Until the ac- 
cession of the Ptolemies to the throne of the Pha- 
raohs, Heliopolis continued to hold its literary rank ; 
though it never recovered from the desolating blow 
which it received from the hands of the Persian con- 
querors. When Strabo visited the place, " it was 
entirely deserted, though the houses in which Eu- 
doxus and Plato had studied were still shown to the 
Greek travellers."! The inhabitants are represented 
to have been " the most ingenious of all the Egyp- 
tians."J When Alexandria became the metropoUs, 
the seat of learning and the arts, Heliopolis went to 
decay. 

Mnevis, one of the sacred bulls of Egypt, conse- 
crated to Osiris,§ was kept at Heliopolis, and hon- 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, i. 301, 302. 

t Wilkinson's Thebes, 317. t Herod, ii. 3. § Diod. i. 28. 



OBELISKS OF HELIOPOLIS. 471 

oured by the Egyptians next to Apis, which was kept 
at Memphis. These two animals were worshipped 
as deities in all parts of Egypt. 

Lions* are said to have been kept in the court of 
the temple, and were considered emblems of the sun. 
The statue of the cat, too, had a conspicuous place 
assigned it in the temple. 

Herodotus gives a singular account of the loss and 
recovery of the sight of Pheron, son and successor 
of Sesostris, who, in gratitude for the return of his 
vision, " sent magnificent presents to all the more 
celebrated temples. To that of the Sunf he sent two 

obelisks Each was formed of one single stone, 

one hundred cubits high and eight broad." 

Wilkinson says, the obelisk now standing in Heli- 
opolis " was erected by Osirtasen I., about seventeen 
hundred years before our era."t During the reign 
of this prince, the Temple of the Sun "was either 
founded or received additions, and one of the obelisks 
bearing his name attests the skill to which they had 
attained in the difficult art of sculpturing granite."§ 

Of the many obelisks abstracted from Egypt by the 
Romans, the first were taken from Heliopolis. These 
" being dedicated to Re, the divinity of the place, the 
Romans were led to conclude that all others belonged 
to the same god. But the obelisks of Thebes were 
ascribed to Amun, the presiding deity of that city ; 
and though several of those at Rome came from 
Thebes, and were therefore dedicated to Amun, the 

* Diod. i. 296. t Herod, ii. 91. 

t Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 9. § Ibid. i. 44. 



472 THE PHCENIX. 

first impressions were too strong to be removed ; and 
the notion of their exclusive appropriation to the Sun 
continued and has been repeated to the present day."^ 

Hehopohs w^as also famous for the visit of the Phoe- 
nix, v^hich came from Arabia to Egypt once in the 
course of five hundred years, to solemnize the funeral 
obsequies of the parent bird, by burning its remains 
upon the altar of the Temple of the Sun. Herodo- 
tus, in his account of the Phoenix, does not pretend 
to have seen, while in Egypt, any thing but the pic- 
ture of this bird, to which, if it bear any resemblance, 
" the wings are partly of a gold and partly of a crim- 
son colour, and its form and size are perfectly like the 
eagle. They say that it comes from Arabia to the 
Temple of the Sun, bearing the dead body of its pa- 
rent, enclosed in myrrh. It makes a ball of myrrh 
shaped like an egg, as large as it is able to carry, 
which it proves by experiment. This done, it exca- 
vates the mass, into which it introduces the body of 
the dead bird ; it again closes the aperture with myrrh, 
and the whole becomes of the same weight as when 
composed entirely of myrrh. It then proceeds to 
Egypt, to the Temple of the Sun."t 

Wilkinson says : " There is reason to believe that 
the god Re" (the name of the deity of Hehopolis) 
" corresponds to the Syrian Baal, a name implying 
* Lord,' which was given par excellence to the sun : 
and the same idea of pecuHar sovereignty vested in 
that deity may have led the Egyptians to take from 
Re the regal title of their kings. Hehopolis, in Syria, 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 295. f Herod, ii. 73. 



A WINTER SCENE. 473 

Still retains the name of Baalbek, *the City of (the 
Lord, or) the Sun/ "* 

The wretched village of Matarea now pollutes the 
borders of the ancient Heliopolis. From the filthy 
dens of mud, a throng of miserable old men, women, 
and children sallied forth at our approach, demanding 
buckshish in a manner so determined, that canes were 
called in requisition to keep them from literally tear- 
ing our clothes from our backs. 

A short distance from the site of the ancient city, 
we were conducted into one of the gardens, once 
celebrated for the balsam they produced, though now 
no longer cultivated — where we were shown a syca- 
more-tree, said by tradition to have afforded shade to 
the Holy Family, at the time of the flight into Egypt. 
The tree looks old and ugly enough to be at least 
a hundred years of age ! 

As we leisurely retraced our steps to Cairo, we 
could not but admire the goodness of Providence, 
every where displayed. The green crops were has- 
tening on to maturity ; the peasants, warmed by a 
summer sun, blackened the fertile fields ; the ma- 
chinery for irrigating the thirsty plains was all in 
motion; the palm-groves waved their pendent branch- 
es to the breeze ; the towering pyramids of Ghizeh 
lifted their huge forms against the heavens ; the ever- 
lasting sands of the desert stretched off in gentle un- 
dulations ; and the bounding Nile, diffusing blessings 
and bounties on all sides, swept boldly on. It was a 
rare picture, — a lovely winter scene. 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, i. 299. 

Vol. I. --60 



474 A MAD-HOUSE. 

In winding through the narrow streets, we passed 
near the " Mad-house," as is denominated the wretch- 
ed abode of those unfortunate beings of Cairo, whose 
minds, deprived of chart and compass, and floating gid- 
dily upon the sea of uncertainty, are tossed by the tem- 
pest of confusion. On expressing a desire to visit the 
shelter of the truly wretched, we were conducted into 
the open court of a shattered building, situated in the 
most dense, dirty, noisy part of the city. On all sides, 
in small cells looking out upon the court through 
grated windows, the hapless inmates, covered with 
vermin, steeped in filth, and almost clotheless, sat 
chained to their dens like wild beasts caged for pub- 
lic exhibition ! Each had a heavy iron ring around 
his neck, to which a chain was attached and fastened 
to the wall. These cells were about eight feet in 
length by four broad, and not of sufficient height to 
admit one to stand erect. In the rear of every cell 
there was a small door, through which the miserable 
objects entered, never to return till death kindly steps 
in and delivers them from torments more awful, were 
it possible, than those which haunt the spirits of 
despair. 

The object of the managers of this doleful place is 
apparently no other than to keep the subjects of their 
charge out of harm's way, and to prevent their com- 
mitting acts of violence. The sooner, therefore, they 
are relieved from this thankless task, the more agree- 
able it becomes to them. No attention is paid to 
their diet or condition, with a view to meliorate their 
forlorn state. Exercise, they have none ; the air they 



REMARK OF SIR DANBURY RBITAPER. 475 

breathe is loaded with impurities ; and they are stran- 
gers to repose. Publicly gazed at from day to day 
by the unfeeling crowd, whose jests and ribaldry of- 
ten fall like iron upon their wretched souls, they lay 
writhing in their dens of misery, till the frail fabric 
of their existence crumbles beneath its appalling 
burden ! 

We had completed our observations in this man- 
sion of misery, and turned away in a melancholy 
mood. We gave the keeper a few piastres, and were 
about taking leave, when we heard the loud laughter 
and blustering conversation of two gentlemen who 
had just entered at the further end of the passage, 
and with lofty strides were advancing toward us. 
They were so disguised in the barbarous habiliments 
of the country, that we could not at first imagine who 
they were. We were not long, however, in doubt ; 
for we soon recognised our noble friend Sir D anbury 
Rimtaper, leaning most confidingly upon the arm of 
his clerical companion, the Reverend Mr. Dunderblix. 
They kept up an animated conversation until they 
had advanced into the court ; then suddenly raising 
their glasses to their eyes, and directing them upon 
the unhappy prisoners in the cells — " I say, Dunder- 
blix," observed Sir Danbury, " this is a demmed ex- 
traordinary spectacle, 'pon honour !" 



476 EXCURSION TO THE PYRAMIDS. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Excursion to the Pyramids. — Friends by the Wayside. — View 
from the Summit of the Pyramid of Cheops. — Ancient 
Tombs. — " Scientific Antiquarians." — The Sphinx. — In- 
terminable Pay-roll. — Brilliant Cavalcade. 

For many days, the mighty pyramids of Ghizeh 
had been the theme of om* admiration. Every where, 
except in threading the gloomy streets of Cairo, these 
huge monuments rose Hke lofty mountains conspicu- 
ous to the view, overshadowing the plain, and im- 
parting beauty and grandeur to the scene. Day after 
day, as we gazed upon the massive piles, they swelled 
upon the vision, augmenting equally in interest and 
apparent magnitude. At length, having made the 
necessary arrangements, we set out on an excursion 
to these wonders of the world. 

The morning was delightful ; and, accompanied by 

our esteemed friend the doctor, and Mr. J , we 

crossed the Nile in an Arab boat, and directed our 
course over the fertile plains. On all sides, the fruit- 
ful soil, green with the exuberant crops of the year, 
was dotted with villages, reposing amid groves of 
spreading palms. 



FRIENDS BY THE WAYSIDE. 477 

The pyramids, when seen from the city, appeared 
close at hand. But as we advanced toward them, 
they seemed to recede from us, and actually assumed 
a greater distance than when viewed from a point 
twenty miles below Cairo. 

We had not rode far after crossing the river, when, 
to our surprise, we observed, radiating in direct lines 
from the surrounding villages, long files of half-clad 
Arabs, armed with clubs, and running down toward 
us at the top of their speed. Our little party was the 
centre to which the advancing columns converged. 
The doctor was destined to feel the force of the first 
onset : two men seized his donkey by the bit, and 
conducted him forward ; several others, walking on 
either side, held his feet in the stirrups ; while as ma- 
ny more were bracing him up behind, to prevent (as 
they said) his tumbling off backward. I immediately 
found myself in the iron grasp of a dozen lusty, lousy 
rascals, who held me as in a vice. Mrs. C. was in no 
less peril. She was hemmed round by a tumultuous 
throng, who w^anted to take her and the animal she 

rode, and carry them both in their arms. Mr. J 

was kept steady in his seat by the kind assistance of 
another dusky crowd ; and fresh supplies augmented 
the number of our attendants at every step. 

Each new arrival afforded a theme for contention, 
which usually resulted in a pitched battle, involving 
the whole mass in an uproarious squabble. Al- 
though they were very bitter among themselves, we 
discovered that they had no hostile designs upon us. 
Most of them lacked an eye ; many were minus a 



478 THE CHIVALROUS DRAGOMAN. 

finger ; and some had their front teeth knocked out ; 
yet they were all our friends. They had leathern 
bottles filled with water for us to drink, candle ends 
to light us through the dark avenues of the pyramids, 
and clubs to fight our battles and defend us against 
the assaults of the Bedouins, who, they said, would 
come from the desert to rob us. They were ready 
to die in our cause ; wanted to accompany us to the 
ends of the earth ; and were determined to stand by 
us, whether we would or not. 

Apprehending no danger from robbers, and having 
provided ourselves with all necessary articles for the 
excursion, we had little occasion for their proffered 
attentions. We, however, took two of them into 
pay, and endeavoured to dismiss the others. They 
nevertheless all considered themselves fairly enlisted 
for the day, and refused to leave us ; their unremitted 
attentions were, however, oppressively irksome. We 
could endure it no longer. 

SeHm, anxious to add fresh lustre to his faded lau- 
rels, first broke ground in our defence. He valiantly 
stood forth, corbash in hand, and charged upon the 
whole body of our new friends, right and left. The 
Arabs, flying before his fearful advances, led the art- 
less dragoman into serious difficulty. They precipi- 
tately leaped a half-filled ditch, into which Sehm, in 
hot pursuit, plunged himself and donkey pell mell. 
This disaster greatly amused our tormentors, and ef- 
fectually damped the mihtary ardour of the aspiring 
dragoman. After a perilous struggle, he extricated 
himself and quadruped from the mud, and tamely 



A WEIGHTY SUBJECT. 479 

slunk into the rear of our cavalry, a rueful object of 
disappointed ambition. We never felt more seriously 
the inconvenience of officious kindness in our lives ; 
and vs^ere in danger of being ''hugged to death'' by our 
friends ! 

A kind of running scuffle was kept up between us, 
until our progress was partially arrested by the stag- 
nant waters of an old canal. Here we were obliged 
to dismount and be borne over the slough upon men's 
shoulders. Our friends now fell upon us en masse ; 
resolved, at all hazards, to aid us in crossing the gulf. 
For a moment the tumult and confusion were over- 
whelming, and the result was poised upon the nnger 
of doubt They seized upon Mr. J with Hercu- 
lean grasp, raised him high in air, and tried in vain 
to seat him upon their shoulders and convey him over 
the water. He kicked most furiously; and so in- 
terrupted the equilibrity of their heads, ears, and 
noses, that they soon relinquished their embrace, and 
sought the advantages of retreat 

A select circle pitched upon the doctor with the 
same benevolent design, but they were soon con- 
vinced that he, standing six feet three in his stock- 
ings, and weighing near three hundred pounds, was no 
bawble ; and, after several ineffectual attempts to 
raise him from the ground, they resigned him to the 
arms of those whom we had concluded to patronise. 
These with some difficulty mounted the doctor upon 
their shoulders, and staggered across the slough. He 
was scarcely set down on the opposite side, however, 
when a crowd of Arabs from the villages near the 



480 FEMALE OFFICIOUSNESS. 

pyramids gathered round, and endeavoured to raise 
him in their arms and carry him back to the spot he 
had just left. They had nearly poised his ponder- 
ous frame upon their shoulders, before he fully com- 
prehended the extent of their beneficence. Perceiv- 
ing himself again in danger of the peril he had for- 
tunately just escaped in crossing, he cut and thrust 
right and left with his umbrella, and kept the assail- 
ants off, until, being reinforced by the muleteers, he 
was enabled to establish and maintain his position 
with comparative ease. 

Many ineffectual attempts at kidnapping had been 
made*upon us ; but we successfully parried them all, 
and crossed the slough in safety. Our candle-end 
and water-bottle friends were as numerous and noisy 
on this side the canal as those we had left on the 
other. Although among these were comprised a large 
number of the fair sex, we had been so intolerably 
annoyed by the assiduous attentions of our unexpect- 
ed friends, that we treated the flattering advances of 
the ladies as ungallantly as we had repulsed the offi- 
cious aid of the gentlemen. 

From the moment we crossed the Nile, until we 
approached the rocky terrace on which the pyramids 
stand, they had continued to diminish in apparent 
size ; and now, leaning against the heavens, with no 
surrounding object by which to compare them, they 
dwindled in appearance to dimensions far less than 
when viewed from any other point. Having ascend- 
ed the terrace, we were at the base of the most huge 
and hoary monument ever constructed by human 



THE PYRAMID OF CHEOPS. 481 

hands. Then we were no longer in doubt of its 
overwhelming extent and grandeur ; though, until we 
had ascended half way up its Cyclopean sides, and 
there seen the gigantic masses of rock below, and the 
towering ledges that still rose above us, we had no 
adequate idea of their vastness, and the immense la- 
bour requisite in their achievement. Layers of stone, 
which, when seen from the plain, looked like those 
of brick, we found on examination consisted of blocks 
of well-hewn rock, from twenty to thirty feet in length, 
and three to four feet square. Then were we enabled 
to appreciate the power of this monument, not only 
to have withstood the ravaging influences of more 
than forty centuries, which have already discharged 
their fury upon it — but, to all human appearance, to 
stand unshaken till time itself shall cease, and this 
earthy ball crumble into its primitive chaos and con- 
fusion. Amazed and awe-struck, we clambered up- 
ward until we stood upon the summit of the pyramid 
of Cheops. This astonishing pile rises from a base 
or area equal in extent to about eleven English acres, 
terminating at an altitude of four hundred and sev- 
enty-four feet, with a square surface, measuring thirty 
feet on either side. Each side at the base measures 
about seven hundred and thirty- two feet. This, how- 
ever, does not include the coating or outward tier of 
stone which once covered it. The total height of the 
pyramid, if entire, with the casing, would be about 
five hundred and two feet.* We were thirty minutes 
in ascending it, but accomplished the task without 

* Willdnson's Thebes, 323. 

Vol. I. — 61 



482 VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT OF CHEOPS. 

difficulty. We required none of that lifting, tugging, 
and pulling which the learned " ex-member of Parlia- 
ment"* informed us he and his noble friends resorted 
to in their miraculous ascent, at the time of the " ex- 
member's" celebrated visit to the pyramids. 

From the summit, the view on all sides was im- 
pressively grand. The hoary sands of Africa stretched 
toward the west, till their arid surface met the heav- 
ens. A long line of pyramids, standing upon the bor- 
ders of Egypt, reached upward far beyond the palm- 
shadowed site of Memphis. The eastern horizon 
was fringed by Arabia's barren mountains, whose 
bleak and flinty sides are pierced with ancient sepul- 
chres. At their base, the metropolis of Egypt, crown- 
ed with lofty, swelling domes, reposed amid palm- 
groves and fruitful fields. The rushing Nile mean- 
dered through the vale, glistening like shields of sil- 
ver, fringed with living green. Egypt's expanding 
plains, sprinkled with towns, leaped onward in the 
view, till the heavens kissed the soil, and closed on 
either hand the range of vision. Than was here ex- 
hibited, it would be impossible to present a contrast 
more impressive. The wind whistled along the de- 
sert waste like ceaseless murmurs of the ocean waves 
upon a barren beach. On one hand, nature revelled in 
beauty and fertility, and nothing could be more lovely 
to the sight. On the other, far as vision's utmost 
bounds, all was cheerless, desolate, wretched. 

Glancing our eyes hastily over the names of the 
" immortals," or those travellers w^ho have made the 

* J. S. Buckingham, 



INTERIOR OF THE PYRAMID. 483 

pyramids, temples, tombs, and other works of eastern 
art, famous for their chiselKngs and spoil, — we com- 
menced the descent, which is easy and safe. 

The entrance to the pyramid is on the north side, 
nearly in the centre, and about forty-five feet above 
the base. It is three feet three inches square, and is 
lined with polished granite. Preceded by an Arab 
bearing a lighted torch, we entered this passage, and 
descended at an angle of twenty-seven degrees to the 
distance of one hundred feet. Here we found an un- 
iinished chamber ; and the passage from this point, 
ascending at about the same angle as the descent from 
the entrance, conducted us to what is called the 
" Great Gallery." On the right of the entrance to 
this gallery, a well opens to an unknown depth. Here 
a horizontal passage conducts the explorer to what is 
termed the " (iueen's Chamber." The " Great Gal- 
lery," ascending at the same angle as the passage, 
leads to a small vestibule which opens into a spacious 
apartment, cased on all sides with polished blocks of 
granite. In this room, which is called the " King's 
Chamber," there is a highly-polished granite sarco- 
phagus, seven feet four inches long and three feet 
square. Besides the sarcophagus, there was little in 
this apartment to detain us. The air was hot and 
impure ; and the Arabs who rushed in after us, kicked 
up the dust so much, that respiration became diffi- 
cult. The bats too had taken the alarm, and were 
revolving round our Hghts in a manner that threat- 
ened their total extinction. We therefore deemed it 



484 THE WELL or THE PYRAMID. 

advisable to feel our way back through the passages, 
and emerge once more into day. 

The well at the bottom of the " Great Gallery" is 
sunk through the solid rock ; and it is supposed to 
have connexion with a passage at the bottom, lead- 
ing up thence to the entrance of the pyramid. Wil- 
kinson* thinks that the workmen, after closing the 
passage which conducts from the first chamber to the 
" Great Gallery," must have descended the well, and 
made their final egress through this subterranean pas- 
sage, which they also closed after them. Champol- 
lionf says, the well is known to extend to the depth 
of two hundred feet, and that it has been explored 
to a point forty feet below the level of the Nile. 

HerodotusJ says that the water of the Nile was 
conducted into this pyramid and surrounded an isl- 
and, where the body of Cheops, its founder, was de- 
posited. If that were the case, the well must have 
reached down to the channel for the admission of the 
Nile. But Wilkinson§ discredits this assertion ; and 
Pliny, who he thinks was not easily led away by cre- 
dulity and want of judgment, observes that the Nile 
is much lower than the bottom of the well. Cham- 
polhon represents the descent as being neither diffi- 
cult nor dangerous, there being small niches cut in 
the sides, on which to rest the feet and hands. 

The present passage to the interior of the pyra- 
mids was opened by Belzoni, in 182 6; though he 
found abundant evidence there to show that he was 

* V^ilkinson's Thebes, 324. f " Egypte Ancienne," 282. 

i Herod, ii. 124-127. § Wilkinson's Thebes, 328 : note. 



THE SARCOPHAGUS. 485 

not the first discoverer. A forced passage was ef- 
fected in the year 820, by the Calif Mamoon, " and 
a statue, resembling a man, was found in the sarco- 
phagus ; and in the statue was a body, with a breast- 
plate of gold and jewels, and characters written with 
a pen, which no one understood."* 

Mr. Stephens, speaking of the sarcophagus, says : 
" It is exactly the size of the orifice which forms the 
entrance of the pyramid, and could not have been 
conveyed to its place by any of the known passages."f 
Wilkinson, however, says the sarcophagus is three 
inches smaller than the entrance ; and thinks it must 
have been " placed there before the roof was added, 
or introduced by means of the screw."J 

It is conjectured that many other chambers, yet 
undiscovered, are contained in this pyramid ; for the 
structure, after making due allowance for partition- 
walls and secret avenues, is sufficiently large to con- 
tain thousands of chambers, of the dimensions of 
those already opened. The veil of mystery hangs 
over the history of this stupendous fabric ; and there 
is much disparity of opinion among authors who have 
written upon the subject, in regard both to its age, 
and the purpose for which it was constructed. Since 
there is no authenticated record to indicate either, all 
that is not apparent resolves itself into mere conjec- 
ture, unsupported by a single fact. That it was origi- 
nally designed for the tomb of its founder, would seem 
to be the most natural conclusion ; and the sarcopha- 

• Wilkinson's Thebes, 325 : note. 

t Incidents of Travel in Egypt, &c., i. 48. 

J V^^ilkiason's Thebes, 224 : note. 



486 CONJECTURAL ORIGIN OF THE PYRAMIDS. 

gus in the "King's Chamber" appears to me strong 
evidence in support of this conjecture. 

Some suppose that the pyramids were Joseph's 
granaries ; others think they were erected for astro- 
nomical purposes. It has been conjectured by some 
that they were anciently used as temples of idolatrous 
worship. Pliny thought they were built by vain 
monarchs for ostentatious show, and to give employ- 
ment to an idle population. Voltaire justly consid- 
ered the construction of them as a proof of the slave- 
ry of the Egyptians ; for Herodotus informs us that 
Cheops, who succeeded the mild and paternal prince 
Rhampsinitus, under whose reign " Egypt was not 
only remarkable for its abundance, but for its excel- 
lent laws, degenerated into the extremest profligacy. 
He barred the temples, and forbade the Egyptians 
to offer sacrifices ; and proceeded next to make them 
labour severely for himself."* Some were employed 
in the quarries of Arabia, extracting the stones for 
the great pyramid. Others dragged them to the Nile, 
and put them on board the transports of those who 
conveyed them thence to the mountains of Libya ; 
and in this service alone one hundred thousand men 
were employed twenty years ! 

" Ten years were consumed in forming the road 
over which the stones were to be drawn ; a work in 
my estimation," says Herodotus, " of no less difficulty 
than the pyramid itself" He also mentions the ma- 
chinery by means of which the massive blocks were 
elevated ; the style in which the pyramid was fin- 

♦ Herod, ii. 124. 



INFAMY OF CHEOPS. 487 

ished ; and that " upon the outside were inscribed the 
various sums of money expended in the progress of 
the work, for radishes, onions, and garlic consumed by 
the artificers. This," he continues, " as I well re- 
member my interpreter informed me, amounted to no 
less a sum than one thousand six hundred talents."* 

Herodotus also informs us that " Cheops, having 
exhausted his wealth, was so flagitious that he pros- 
tituted his daughter, commanding her to make the 
most of her person." And, although he was not in- 
formed what sums she procured by the prostitution 
of her charms ; yet, " it is reported," he remarks, that 
from this source, " the middle of the three pyramids, 
fronting the larger one, was constructed, the elevation 
of which on each side is one hundred and fifty feet."f 
According to the same author, Cheops reigned fif- 
ty years ; and his brother Cephren, who succeeded 
him on the throne, pursued a similar course — built a 
pyramid, and reigned fifty-six years. " Thus for the 
space of one hundred and six years, the Egyptians 
were exposed to every species of oppression; not 
having, all this period, permission to worship in their 
temples."J 

Diodorus§ relates that Chemmis the Memphite, the 
same king whom Herodotus calls Cheops,|| '' reigned 
fifty years, and built the greatest of the pyramids, ac- 
counted among the seven wonders of the world.** 
He says : " Though it be a thousand years since it 
was built (or as some say about three thousand and 

• Herod, ii. 125. Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 126. Diod. i. 66. 

t Herod, ii. 126. | Ibid. ii. 128. 

§ Diod. i. 65. |j Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 24. 



488 FATE OF CHEOPS AND CEPHREN. 

four hundred), yet the stones are as firmly jointed, 
and the whole building as entire and without the 
least decay, as they were at the first." He confirms 
the account of Herodotus, of the stone's being taken 
from the Arabian mountains, though he says the num- 
ber of men employed upon the work was " three hun- 
dred and sixty thousand, and the whole was scarcely 
completed in twenty years."* He also says : "Al- 
though the kings designed these two pyramids (Che- 
ops and Cephren) for their sepulchres, yet it hap- 
pened that neither of them was there buried. For 
the people being incensed at them by reason of the 
toil and labour they were put to, and the cruelty of 
the kings, threatened to drag their carcasses out of 
their graves, and pull them by piece-meal, and cast 
them to the dogs ; and therefore both of them upon 
their death-beds commanded their servants to bury 
them in some obscure place."t 

" Instead of useful works, like nature, great, 
Enormous, cruel wonders crushed the land, 
And round a tyrant's tomb, who none deserved, 
For one vile carcass perished countless lives." 

Wilkinson, after pronouncing the pyramids of Ghi- 
zeh the oldest monuments in the world, observes that 
*'the absence of hieroglyphics and of every trace of 
sculpture precludes the possibility of ascertaining the 
exact period of their erection, or the names of their 
founders."! He thinks, however, that from all that 
can be collected in reference to their history, they 
were erected by Suphis and Sensuphis, two brothers, 

* Diod. i. 66. f Ibid. J Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 19. 



PYRAMID OF CEPHREN. 489 

who were successively upon the throne of Egypt 
about 2120 B. C * He is also of opinion that Su- 
phis was the fourth king before Apappus, whom he 
supposes to have been the cotemporary of Abraham, 
B. C. 1920. 

The pyramid next in size to that of Cheops, sup- 
posed to have been reared by Cephren, was evident- 
ly built in an inferior style to the first. Its actual 
height is said to be four hundred and thirty-nine feet 
— the length of each side of its base is six hundred 
and ninety feet.f The passages in this are similar to 
those in the first, and a sarcophagus, sunk to a level 
with the floor, was found in the largest chamber. 
There were originally two entrances to this pyramid, 
one of which is unopened ; the other, through which 
the interior is now explored, was opened by Belzoni. 
This is four feet high, and three feet six inches wide. 
He found the chamber of the sarcophagus to be forty- 
six feet in length, sixteen feet three inches wide, and 
twenty-three feet six inches high ; and hewn out of 
the solid rock from the floor to the roof 

This fact favours the idea advanced by Bruce, that 
the great pyramids of Ghizeh were formed out of 
immense isolated rocks, which stood upon the spot. 
The fact too of the well in the pyramid of Cheops, 
commencing at an elevation of some forty or fifty 
feet above the base of the structure, being sunk 
through the solid rock, also favours this theory. 

Bruce says : " Whoever will take the pains to re- 
move the sand on the south side, will also find the 

• Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, iii. 150. f Wilkinson's Thebes, 330. 

Vol. I. — 62 



490 



PYRAMIDS OF GHIZEH. 




Plan or the Pyramids of Ghizeh. 



Aj entrance to ihe pyramid of T, small pyramids. 



Cheops. 

B, entrance to the pyramid of Ce- 
phren. 

C C, long pits. 

D, pyramid of Cheops' daughter. 

H and I, ancient tombs. 

P, site of ancient tomb, supposed 
to have been the temple of Osiris. 

Q, tombs. 

R, pit closed with stone. 

S, pyramid of Mycerinus. 



U V, ruins of ancient buildings. 

W W W, fragments of stone walL 

Y, southern causeway. 

Z, northern? do. 

c, ancient tombs. 

d d, tombs in the rock. 

e, the sphinx. 

/ g, munmay pits. 

i, doorway of the causeway. 

k, grotto. 

If inclined causeway. 



m m, ancient tombs. 



INFERIOR PYRAMIDS. 491 

solid rock hewn into steps. And in the roof of the 
large chamber, where the sarcophagus stands, as also 
in the top of the roof of the gallery, you see large 
fragments of the rock, affording an unanswerable 
proof that these pyramids were once huge rocks, 
standing where they now are ; that some of them, 
the most proper from their form, were chosen for the 
body of the pyramid, and the others hewn dow^n to 
serve for the superstructure, and the exterior parts 
of them."* 

The third pyramid, supposed to have been built by 
Mycerinus, son of Cheops, who ascended the throne 
after the death of Cephren, has not yet been opened. 
It is much smaller than those already described, and 
more elegant in its external surface — having been 
coated from the summit to the base with red granite. 
Much of the exterior coating of this pyramid is still 
entire. Its form is somewhat different from the lar- 
ger ones ; the angle of its sides being much more 
acute. 

In addition to those mentioned above, there were 
many other pyramids in the vicinity, which, could 
they be seen any where else, might justly excite ad- 
miration. But there, the all-absorbing interest of the 
more mighty structures of Cheops and Cephren cast 
surrounding objects into comparative insignificance. 

From the summit of the great pyramid, those of 
Sakhara and Dashour were distinctly seen. These 
are much smaller than those of Ghizeh, though they 
are striking remains of a powerful nation, whose de- 

* Brace's Travels in Egypt and Abyssinia, vol, i. 



492 PYRAMIDS OF SAKHARA. 

parted greatness still lingers amid the ruined frag- 
ments of her early achievements. The pyramids of 
Sakhara, like those of Ghizeh, are surrounded by 
tombs, which have all been violated by the " scien- 
tific antiquarians" from England and other parts of 
Europe. 

Dr. Robinson says of his visit to Sakhara : " Pits 
leading to the chambers of death have been opened 
in all directions ; and the ground is every where 
strewed with the bones and cerements of mummies. 
Such a field of dead men's bones, I have nowhere 
else seen."^ He is of opinion that the whole dis- 
tance along the edge of the Libyan desert, from the 
pyramids of Ghizeh to those of Dashour, formed the 
great Necropolis of the city of Memphis. The He- 
liopolitans probably deposited their dead in the tombs 
about the pyramids of Ghizeh, since none have been 
discovered about the ancient city of On. 

The numerous tombs adjacent to the pyramids are 
supposed to have been excavated six hundred years 
after those at Thebes.f The paintings upon the 
walls, representing the wine-press, dancing, festive 
groups, trades, boats, and agricultural scenes, are still 
preserved with much freshness ; though greatly infe- 
rior in execution to those in the sepulchral chambers 
of the Theban Necropolis. 

Wilkinson mentions some tombs to the north of 
the pyramids, where he saw the names of some very 
old kings, having merely the title of priests. " In- 

* Dr. Robinson's Biblical Researches in Palestine, &c., i. 38. 
t Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, iii. 285. 



THE SPHINX. 493 

deed," says he, " I believe these sculptures and build- 
ings to be the oldest in Egypt, not excepting the 
catacombs oi Beni-Hassan."* 

We explored their vacant chambers until we be- 
came fatigued and hungry ; and, after lunching in one 
of them, we came down to the sphinx, a relic of an- 
tiquity, which, though crouched beneath the huge 
pyramids, and nearly enveloped in sand, cannot be 
witnessed but with admiration and surprise. This 
extraordinary monument, hewn out of the ledge on 
which it rests, is one hundred and twenty feet in 
length ; and, although in a cumbent posture, its head 
is elevated sixty feet above its legs, which are thrust 
out fifty feet in advance of the body. The head rises 
thirty feet above the top of the back. It measures 
thirty-three feet across the breast. 

.Combined with the colossal body of a lion, the 
sphinx has the head, neck, and breast of a beautiful 
woman : a figure which is said to have been emble- 
matical of intellectual power and physical strength.f 
Though the nose, eyes, and one ear have felt the rude 
touch of the spoiler, the expression is still benign, 
placid, and impressive to a degree that I have rarely 
seen produced by the sculptor's art : 

Say, canst thou tell me -what and why thou art, 

Fair Sphinx, that e'en in all thy ruin smiles 

So sweetly o'er these drifting sands ? What part 

Hadst thou in Egypt's golden days, when files 

Of gorgeous priests, in all their mystic wiles, 

Stood, knelt, or bowed before thy bruised face. 

And worshipped ? Then, thou wert young, and the Nile's 

Fair wonder ; for, thy beauty, grandeur, grace, 

Still cling around thee, and adorn this desert place ! 

* Wilkinson's Thebes, 332. f Ibid. 332 : note. 



494 GREAT DEMAND FOR BUCKSfflSH. 

At our departure from the sphinx, the Arabs, who 
had annoyed us all day, gathered round, clamorous 
for their wages, crying buckshish I with the voice of 
Stentor. We felt rather pacific, and thought the 
easier way to escape their importunity was to give 
each a few paras, and thus satisfying their imperious 
demands, take a tranquil leave of all hands. We 
soon found, however, that the pay-roll was likely to 
be as interminable as a circle. One's claims were 
no sooner liquidated, than, slipping behind his com- 
panions, he emerged again from a different point, and, 
while holding what he had already obtained in one 
hand, he would thrust out the other, vehemently de- 
manding a fresh donation. Add to this rather dis- 
couraging circumstance, the inmates of a cluster of 
mud huts near at hand, perceiving what was going 
forward, came up in breathless haste, all as sohcitous 
to share the distributions of the spoil as those who 
had harassed us in our perambulations about the pyra- 
mids. Of the two, these were the more entitled to 
our bounty. But there was too fierce a run for any 
bank to stand it long ; and we found ourselves " under 
the disagreeable necessity of suspending payment." 

About half way down the clifis, we found an Arab 
dweUing in a tomb. He was " mine host" of the 
pyramids. He actually kept a public house. In 
front of his sepulchral abode, two tents were pitched, 
and the English colours were flying from their tops. 
The steam and savoury smell ascending from the pots 
and pans over the blazing fire, indicated the quality 
of the guests who were to honour this spectre of the 



TRAVELLING GEAR OF MRS. BUILDERDASH. 49B 

tombs at dinner ; and the profusion of jugs and bot- 
tles that strewed the sand promised a jovial cheer. 

Casting our eyes down upon the plain, we descried 
a long, confused column of Franks and Arabs, slowly 
advancing toward us. It comprised the Builderdash- 
es, the Reverend Mr. Dunderbhx, Doctor O'Squee- 
bey, and about sixty Arabs, pressing forward to see 
the sun set, from the top of the pyramids. The Rim- 
tapers would have been of the party, but they had 
preceded their friends a few days, and dated their 
last letters for England from the summit of the great 
pyramid; whence, as Sir Danbury said, — "they saw 
the sun rise and set in a demmed extraordinary man- 
ner, 'pon honour." 

Mrs. Builderdash was swung between two don- 
keys. Tw^o long poles being lashed at each end on 
either side of the animals, supported a chair in the 
centre, upon which Mrs. Builderdash sat, bound and 
strapped to her seat in a style which gave her some- 
what the resemblance of a fly in a cobweb. A large 
umbrella, fastened to the chair with cords, expanded 
over her head. This singular vehicle swung to and 
fro like the slack wire of a rope-dancer ; and the ar- 
dent bobbing up and down of her ladyship, occasion- 
ed by the unsteady gait of the donkeys, affected her 
nerves most seriously. She looked pale and dejected ; 
and held a Cologne-bottle in one hand, and a scent- 
box in the other. 

Colonel Builderdash, dressed in sky-blue, trimmed 
with red, with a gun swung across his back, support- 
ed on either hand by armed janizaries, rode near his 



496 



A CLERICAL REARGUARD. 



lady, evidently somewhat alarmed for her safety. 
Miss Builderdash was sustained on the right by Doc- 
tor O'Squeebey ; and the Reverend Mr. Dunderblix, 
astride a donkey, with his feet dangling on the ground, 
brought up the rear. He had a sort of Vulcanic as- 
pect, and he brandished a long weapon in his hand, 
resembling the trident of Neptune. The natives, who 
circled at a respectful distance round, thought him no 
common howdgee ; and I must confess his appearance 
did wonders toward giving the procession a classical 
termination !- 




THE RIVER NILE. 497 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

The JVihf and its Annual Inundation. — Sacrifice and Festi- 
vals in honour of the God of the JYile. — JYileometers and 
Criers of the JYile. — Dikes and Canals. — The JYile di- 
verted from its original Channel, and JWemphis founded 
upon its Bed. — Jlpis, the Sacred Bull of J\Iemphis. — 
Splendour of the Ancient City of Memphis. — Its Ruin, 
and the " Scientific Antiquarians.''^ 

The Nile has many interestiDg peculiarities ; and 
it is not a little remarkable that this majestic river 
sweeps on with a broad, deep volume, diffusing its 
blessings through the whole extent of Egypt, without 
a single tributary stream. Herodotus* says, " No 
stream or fountain enters into the Nile." 

" Where'er the Lion sheds his fires around, 
And Cancer bums Syene's parching ground, 
Then at the prayer of nations comes the Nile, 
And kindly tempers up the mouldering soil ; 
Nor from the plains the covering god retreats. 
Till the rude fervour of the skies abates, — 
Till Phoebus into milder autumn fades, 
And Meroe projects her lengthening shades; 
Nor let inquiring skeptics ask the cause — 
Tis Jove's commands, and these are nature's laws." 

* Herod, ii. 50. 

Vol. L — 63 



498 INUNDATION OF THE NILE. 

The inundation was a phenomenon which puzzled 
the wise men of Egypt, and baffled the subtlety of 
the philosophers of Greece. They were not able to 
agree in their solution of the question. Some super- 
stitiously believed that it was occasioned by the an- 
nual sacrifice of a young lady which they made to 
the deity of the river. She was splendidly adorned, 
and with much ceremony was cast into the stream. 
This custom having been abolished by Amrou after 
the Saracen conquest, and the Nile not evincing any 
signs of an increase of its waters until nearly three 
months after the usual time of the inundation, the 
Egyptians became alarmed in the behef that a fam- 
ine would be the consequence • and their superstition 
led them to attribute this calamity to the neglect on 
the part of the government to make the usual barba- 
rous sacrifice. The Arab general wrote to the com- 
mander of the faithful for advice. Omar returned an 
answer approving the conduct of his vassal, and en- 
closed a note to the following effect, which he com- 
manded him to cast into the Nile : " From *Abd allab 
'Omar, Prince of the Faithful, to the Nile of Egypt : 
If thou flow of thine own accord, flow not ; but if it 
be God, the One, the Mighty, who causeth thee to 
flow, we implore God, the One, the Mighty, to make 
thee flow." This command having been obeyed, the 
Nile rose sixteen cubits in the following night !* 

A superstition still pervades the minds of the Egyp- 
tians in regard to the sacrifice ; and, to this day, a 
column of earth is annually raised upon the banks 

* Lane's Modem Egyptians, ii. 263, 264. 



CONJECTURAL CAUSES OF IT. 



499 



of the canal, near the island of Rhoda, which is called 
the " bride." This is washed away ; and a boat, gau- 
dily decorated, mounted with guns, illuminated with 
lamps, having a silk awning over the cabin, and pen- 
nants streaming from its masts, is displayed in the 
river near the entrance of the canal, the day before 
the cutting of the dam, to represent the magnificent 
vessel in which the Egyptians used to convey the 
virgin they threw into the Nile * 

Some thought the inundation was occasioned by 
the north-east winds. These were supposed to blow 
with such effect as to choke the mouths of the Nile, 
and cause the water to overflow the country .f An- 
other opinion was that " the Nile has these qualities, 
as flowing from the ocean, which entirely surrounds 
the earth."t Others attributed this extraordinary oc- 
currence to the dissolving snows on the Ethiopian 
mountains.^ Herodotus, after enumerating several 
suggestions of others, gives what he supposed to be 
the true cause of the inundation, which appears to 
be about as rational as the reasons adduced by some 
politicians of our generation for the rise and fall of 
the speculators. " It is my opinion," says he, " that 
the Nile overflow's in the summer season, because in 
the winter the sun, driven by the storms from his 
usual course, ascends into the higher regions of the 
air above Libya." || It is true, he gives what he terms 
an explanation of his theory ; but, like a majority of 
Congressional speeches, " his going more at length 

• Lane's Modem Egyptians, ii. 164. f Herod, ii. 24 : note 43. 

t Herod. U. 21. § Herod, ii. 22. II Ibid. ii. 24. 



500 INTJT^DATION OF THE NILE. 

into the argament"* tends rather to shroud and per- 
plex what before was clear and self-evident, than to 
throw new light upon the subject. 

The gods of Egypt had probably about as much 
influence over the Nile as they had in 1835 over Salt 
river and Sam Patch ; and their agency is as potent 
now as it was in the days of Joseph and Jacob, — or 
even at the time the " ex-member of Parhament"t 
was in Egypt. Very little mystery hangs over the 
Nile's inundation. It is all accounted for by natural 
causes. Diodorus, who derided the fabulous stories 
of the Egyptians and Greeks about the sources of the 
Nile, and the causes of its annual inundations, says : 
" In the mountainous parts of Ethiopia, there are 
yearly continual rains from the summer solstice to the 
equinox in autumn ; and therefore there is just cause 
for the Nile to be low in winter, which then flows 
only from its own natural spring-heads, and to over- 
flow in summer through the abundance of rains."| 
Pococke ascribes the inundation to the rains in Ethi- 
opia ; though he thinks that the north winds, which 
begin to blow the latter end of May, drive the clouds, 
formed by the vapours of the Mediterranean, against 
the mountains of Ethiopia, when they condense and 
fall down in violent rains. "At this time," he ob- 
serves, "not only men from their reasons, but the 
wild beasts from a sort of instinct, leave the moun- 
tains." 

There can be no doubt that the annual rains of 
Ethiopia have ever been the real cause of the over- 

* Herod, ii. 25. f J' S. Buckingham. 1 Diod. i. 47. 



POPULAR IGNORANCE OF ITS CAUSES. 501 

flow of the Nile; and it is not improbable that the 
waters are sometimes considerably increased in depth 
by the prevalence of the north winds, which con- 
tinue with much steadiness at that season of the year. 
Yet, so mysterious an incidence was the inundation 
esteemed by the ancients, that they religiously be- 
lieved that, if from any accident they failed to cele- 
brate the " Niloa Festival" at the proper time, and 
with becoming pomp, the tutelary deity of the river, 
in whose honour this fete was given, would become 
incensed, and the Nile would refuse to overflow the 
land. This, therefore, was one of the most remarka- 
ble of all their festivals. The towns and villages 
were crowded by men and women assembled from 
all parts of the country. " Grand festivities were 
proclaimed, and all the enjoyments of the table were 
combined with the solemnity of a sacred festival. 
Music, the dance, and appropriate hymns marked the 
respect they felt for the deity ; and a wooden statue 
of the river-god was carried by the priests through 
the villages in solemn procession, that all might ap- 
pear to be honoured by his presence and aid, while 
invoking the blessings he was about to confer."* 

Singular as it may appear, the Egyptians of the 
nineteenth J century are as deep in the fog of super- 
stition on this subject as were their ancestors two 
thousand years before the Christian era. On the eve 
of the 17th of June, they believe that a miraculous 
drop falls into the Nile, and causes it to rise. This 
is called the " Night of the Drop ;" and astrologers 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, ii. 292. 



502 FESTRITIES ON CUTTING THE DAM. 

calculate the moment with much precision when this 
supernatural " drop" is to descend. The Egyptians 
in all parts of the country assemble on the banks of 
the river, and there pass the " Night of the Drop." 

The women on this occasion observe the singular 
custom of placing upon the terraces of their houses 
a small lump of dough for each person in the family. 
If, upon a careful examination of these lumps the 
next morning, any of them are found cracked, they 
infer that those persons for whom they were intended 
are destined to enjoy long life ; those, however, whose 
lumps remain entire, are thereby reminded of their 
speedy dissolution. This is also a test with some 
for determining the height of the inundation the en- 
suing season."^ 

The most brilliant fete of the Egyptians is cele- 
brated on the night before cutting the dam of the 
canal to conduct the water of the inundation to the 
metropolis. The inhabitants repair in crowds to the 
island of Rhoda, the banks of the canal, and of the 
river, and there pass the night with music, songs, 
dancing, and story-telling, amid the roar of cannon 
and the glare of rockets which are continually blazing 
through the heavens. Thousands are sailing up and 
down the Nile in illuminated boats, rfci^|ing the air 
with their uproarious rejoicings. 

At the break of day, the cutting of the dam is com- 
menced. An hour after sunrise, the governor of 
Cairo, attended by other great officers of state, ar- 
rives and alights at a large tent in front of the dam. 

* Lane's Modern Eg}'ptians, ii. 256. 



£GYPTIAN VENERATION FOR THE NILE. 503 

The ckadee is also present. He draws up a docu- 
ment testifying to the fact of the Nile's having at- 
tained a sufficient height to justify the opening of the 
canal, and of its having been accomplished. This 
instrument, being signed and sealed, is despatched 
with all haste to the Grand Seignior at Constantino- 
ple. The governor throws purses of gold to the 
workmen ; the water rushes into the canal, bearing 
upon its troubled bosom numerous boats filled with 
happy beings rejoicing, into the city. The lake of 
Ezbekeeyeh, within the walls of Cairo, being filled 
with w^ater, the metropolitans pass the night upon its 
borders, in bathing; and other amusements. The 
women, who elsewhere are superstitiously exact in 
concealing their faces from the sight of men, " expose 
their persons to the passengers and idlers on the 
banks, in a surprising manner."* 

The Egyptians have always looked upon their in- 
estimable river with extreme veneration. To it the 
country is indebted for all its fertility. Indeed, Egypt 
in the fullest sense is the ''gift of the Nile." There- 
fore, when they have a " full Nile," the country re- 
sounds with rejoicings : the people are then happy 
in the prospect of an abundant harvest. 

Herodotus informs us that Pheron hurled a javelin 
into the Nile when " it was at its extreme height of 
eighteen cubits," and was immediately deprived of 
his sight, and remained blind for the space of ten 
years.f This, and the manner in which his sight 
was afterward restored, were among the tales related 

• Lane's Modern Egyptians, ii. 268. f Herod, ii. 111. 



504 NILEOMETERS AND CRIERS OF THE NILE. 

by the priests. One is quite absurd, and the other is 
perfectly ridiculous. That this Pharaoh was bhnd 
for a season, and subsequently received his sight, is 
highly probable ; but that the cause of his blindness 
was that ascribed to it, and the cure effected by the 
singular remedy* related by Herodotus, it would re- 
quire the credulity and dulness of an Egyptian to 
believe. 

In accordance with the custom of the ancients, the 
height of the Nile during the increase of its waters is 
daily proclaimed by public criers ; and the Nileome- 
ters, although the Pacha possesses almost the entire 
soil of the country, now subserve the important ends 
for which they were originally constructed. An old 
law exempting the people from paying the land-tax, 
unless the river rises to the height of sixteen cubits, is 
so far respected, that the criers of the Nile, under the 
sanction of government, daily proclaim the increase 
of the waters.! 

Nileometers were very early established,! and it 
was unlawful for the inhabitants to measure the height 
of the inundation ; consequently the Nileometers be- 
ing strictly in the hands of the pubHc authorities, the 
river rarely failed to reach the tax-sanctioning height 
of sixteen cubits. 

About the middle of June, a gradual rise in the Nile 
is perceptible at Cairo ; though at the cataracts, the 
banks denote an increased fulness two or three weeks 
earlier. At this time the water becomes more turbid, 
and is changed from a state of comparative clearness 

• Herod, ii. 111. f Lane's Modern Egyptians, ii. 259. 

J Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, i. 11. 



THE LAKE OF MGERIS. 505 

to a red dirty hue. It then assumes a greenish ap- 
pearance ; and while it retains this colour, it is con- 
sidered unwholesome. Anciently, the banks being 
generally full about the first of August, the canals 
were opened and the water covered the plains.* The 
canals and dikes were then considered of so much 
importance, that " large sums of money were annu- 
ally expended for their maintenance and repairs." 
They were under the supervision of government, and 
were strictly guarded night and day. The ancient 
dikes having all disappeared, the inundation now 
sweeps unrestrained where it listeth. 

To the fertilizing influences of the inundation, and 
the judicious mode of irrigation adopted by the an- 
cients, Egypt was indebted for the almost incredible 
productions of its soil. The dikes and canals, like 
those of Holland at the present day, were considered 
great national works ; they received the most scrupu- 
lous care of government, and while they restrained 
the redundant waters, they at the same time served 
the purpose of roads, over which the country was 
traversed in all directions. 

The great lake of Moeris, " four hundred and fifty 
miles in circumference and two hundred cubits deep," 
was constructed to relieve the country from the evils 
of too copious an inundation, and to supply the defi- 
ciencies of a partial overflowing of the plains. " For 
six months," says Herodotus, " the lake empties itself 
into the Nile, and the remaining six the Nile supplies 
the lake. It is entirely the product of human indus- 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, i. 101. 

Vol. L— 64 



606 



RAISING WATER FROM THE NILE. 



try, which indeed the work testifies : for in its centre 
may be seen two pyramids, each of which is two 
hundred cubits above, and as many beneath the wa- 
ter. Upon the summit of each is a colossal statue 
of marble, in a sitting attitude."* The pyramids 
have disappeared, and the lake is now scarcely forty 
leagues in circumference. 




Raising Water from the Nile. 

The horizontal wheel now in use in Lower Egypt 
for raising the water from the Nile, was not intro- 
duced till after the country was subjugated by the 
Persians. The simple pole and bucket, or shadoof, 

* Herod, ii. 149. 



ANCIENT BED OF THE NILE. 507 

of the modern Egyptians swung upon the banks of 
the Nile forty centuries ago f and the Fellahs have 
a tradition that this contrivance has descended to 
them from their Pharaonic predecessors.f The Per- 
sian wheel, as it is called, was formerly much more 
generally in use than it is at present. In consequence 
of a tax of fifteen dollars per annum which is laid up- 
on each, its use is nearly abandoned in Upper Egypt, 
and the primitive shadoof Sidoipted in ks stead. The 
appearance of the labourers at the shadoof, who toil 
from sunrise till sunset for four or five cents each, is 
animated and picturesque. The accompanying cut 
is an illustration of these scenes on the banks of the 
Nile. 

We are assuredj that Menes, the founder of Mem- 
phis, diverted the course of the Nile, and reared the 
city upon its ancient bed. Until then, the river 
" flowed along the sandy mountain on the side of 
Libya."§ At some distance to the south of the sup- 
posed site of Memphis, it sweeps to the right, flowing 
toward the Arabian mountains ; after which it takes 
a more direct course through the central part of the 
valley. Present appearances, therefore, corroborate 
the statement of Herodotus, who also informs us that 
" under the dominion of the Persians, the artificial 
channel was annually repaired. If the river were 
here to break its banks, the whole town of Memphis 
would be greatly endangered." || Wilkinson is of opin- 
ion that the Nile was turned out of its original chan- 

• Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii. 137-139. f I^d. i. 53. 

JHerod. ii.99. § Ibid. 11 Herod, ii. 99. 



508 THE ANCIENT CITY OF MEMPHIS. 

nel by Menes, who he says " was the reputed found- 
er of Thebes and Memphis," and is allow^ed by uni- 
versal consent to have been the first sovereign of the 
country. He also says : <^' Judging from the great height 
of several mounds still existing near Memphis, that 
city could not have been overwhelmed at any period 
by the rising of the Nile."* We are however inform- 
ed, that among the mighty achievements of Sesostris, 
he " raised many mounds and banks of earth to which 
he removed all the cities that lay low in the plain, 
that both man and beast might be secure at the time 
of the inundation."! As this monarch, who was 
styled " king of kings and lord of lords," after con- 
quering Libya, Ethiopia, Scythia, all Asia, and Thrace, 
returned home victorious, with the annual tribute of 
the vanquished nations pouring into his coffers, set 
about improving his kingdom ; and " cut deep dikes 
from the river all along as far as from Memphis to the 
sea ; and adorned all the temples of Egypt with rich 
presents ;"{ it is most probable that he did not wholly 
neglect the capital; and that Memphis was raised 
with " all the cities that lay low in the plain," and se- 
cured from the ravages of the waters. Though twen- 
ty generations before the birth of Sesostris, at the 
time Memphis was built, and many generations after 
it became the capital — " it might have been greatly 
endangered by the river's breaking its banks." 

Diodorus says that Menes was the first king of 
Egypt ; and that the course of the Nile was changed, 

* Wilkinson's Thebes, 340, 341 : Ancient EgjTDtians, i. 41. 

t Diod. i. 61. % Diod. i. m^ ^U 



THE EGYPTIAN GOD APIS. 



509 



and the city of Memphis built in its former channel. 
But he also remarks* that Thebes was founded by 
Busiris, who succeeded to the throne some sixty gen- 
erations after Menes ; and that Memphis was founded 
by Uchoreus,t eight generations after the building of 
Thebes, and " became the most famous city of Egypt." 
It stood at the head of the several branches of the 
Nile, forming the Delta, and commanded all the ship- 
ping on the river.f It was one hundred and fifty 
furlongs in circuit, with a lofty rampart on the south 
side, serving as a defence against the waters of the 
Nile (which it effectually turned into a new channel), 
and as a bulwark against the approach of an enemy 
by land. A deep fosse encircled the rampart, into 
which the waters entered, fortifying the city after the 
manner observed in similar works, through all suc- 
ceeding ages. This city, so commodiously situated 
and so strondv fortified, became at once the resi- 
dence of the court. Thebes, deprived of this advan- 
tage, began from that period to decline. Memphis 
continued to be the royal residence, and increased in 
splendour and riches, till Alexandria finally eclipsed 
its glory, robbed it of the royal favour, and left it to 
sink into total decay and ruin. 

Memphis was not only " the most famous city of 
Egypt," but it was there that divine honours were 
paid to Apis. "Apis," says Herodotus, "is the calf 

of a cow which can have no more young On 

this occasion the cow is struck with lightning, from 
which she conceives and brings forth Apis .... The 

• Diod. i. 51. t Ibid. i. 55. } Ibid. 



510 



APIS AND HIS ORNAMENTS. 



skin of Apis is black, but on his forehead is a white 
star of triangular form. It has the figure of an eagle 
on the back, the tail is divided, and under the tongue 
it has an insect like a beetle."* This sacred bull 
was worshipped as a real god, for the Egyptians be- 
lieved that the soul of Osiris had taken up its abode 
in that animaLf 




Apis and his Ornaments. 

The worship of Apis was conducted with great 
pomp. He had a temple, and festivals in his honour 
were celebrated for many days together.J During 
these fetes, the people assembled at Memphis ; and 
Apis was conducted through the streets in solemn 
procession, greeted by the citizens, who came forth 
to welcome him. Children crowded about the bull, 
for it was believed that those of them who smelt his 
breath were thereby inspired with the gift of prophe- 
cy.§ Great attention was paid to his food, and he 
was not permitted to drink of the Nile, lest its fat- 
tening qualities should make this deity too corpulent. 

• Herod, iii. 28. t Diod. i. 86. 

t Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, i. 351. § Ibid. i. 357. 



OBSEQUIES OF THE BULL APIS. 5J1 

As soon as his time was accomplished, as prescribed 
in the sacred book (which was twenty-five years), 
he was led to the fountain of the priests, and there 
drowned with much ceremony. His body was em- 
balmed, and his funeral celebrated with great magnifi- 
cence. This having been accomplished, the priests, 
with doleful lamentation, sought another bull to take 
his place. Detailed instructions were laid down in 
the sacred books for their guidance in this important 
research.* When the successor of the defunct deity 
arrived in Memphis, the event was celebrated with 
festive rejoicings, equalled only in enthusiasm by the 
splendour of their grief for the death of his prede- 
cessor. 

Whenever Apis died a natural death, his obsequies 
were consecrated upon a scale of extravagance that 
often ruined those who had charge of him. On one 
occasion, besides vast sums otherwise provided, fifty 
talents (something over forty-three thousand dollars) 
were borrowed to defray the expense of burying the 
built 

However great were the honours and devout the 
homage paid to this animal by the Egyptians, he was 
held by the Persian rulers of Egypt in very slight re- 
gard. Cambyses, returning from a disastrous expe- 
dition against the Ethiopians, vexed at the loss of an 
army of fifty thousand men which was overwhelmed 
in the sands of the desert, and finding the Egyptians 
in their best attire, the priests decked in their richest 
robes, all rejoicing, and celebrating the festival of 

♦ Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, i. 352. f Diod. i. 86. 



512 PERSIAN CONTEMPT FOR APIS. 

Apis, he put the magistrates of Memphis to death, 
scourged the priests, and stabbed the sacred bull with 
his dagger.^ About two centuries after this barbarity, 
Ochus, the last but two of the Persian tyrants who 
reigned in Egypt, killed the sacred Apis, and served 
him up at a banquet If 

Diodorus says : " There are two sacred bulls espe- 
cially, the one called Apis, and the other Mnevis, that 
are consecrated to Osiris, and reputed as gods by all 
the Egyptians." t He also assures us that Osiris and 
Isis were both buried in the grove of Vulcan at Mem- 
phis. But, as the learned world have greatly differed 
in regard to this, and the colour, spots, marks, and 
exact form of the tongue and tail of Apis (as they 
seldom fail to write upon all important matters), I 
leave the whole subject, with much confidence, in their 
hands, and beg to refer the curious reader, for their 
opinions and other particulars of this Egyptian god, 
to Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians,^ where he will 
find many interesting remarks upon this subject. 

The temples of Memphis were of the most splen- 
did description, especially that of Vulcan, which was 
commenced by Menes,|l though it was not completed 
till many generations after his reign. Moeris erected 
the north entrance,1[ Psammitichus the south,** and 
Mycerinus built the western portico, " which," says 
Herodotus, " was by far the greatest and most mag- 
nificent."tt Each of the vestibules was adorned with 
statues and other works of art. Amasis placed a co- 

* Herod, iii. 26-28. f "Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 213. 

t Diod. i. 28. § Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, i. 347. 
tl Herod, ii. 99. IT Ibid. 101. ** Ibid. ii. 153. ft Ibid. ii. 136. 



RUINS OF MEMPHIS. 513 

lossal recumbent figure, seventy-five feet long, in front 
of this temple. Upon the same pediment, formed out 
of the same stone, w^ere two other colossal figures 
twenty feet high.* Here was also the Temple of 
Isis, " the grandeur of which excited universal admi- 
ration."t The Temple of Apis too, and the edifice 
in which this deified animal was kept, were grand 
and imposing structures. The latter fabric, erected 
by Psammitichus, was supported by colossal figures 
twelve cubits high, and richly decorated with sculp- 

ture.f 

These were among the embellishments of the an- 
cient metropolis ; but Memphis, once the seat of so 
much splendour, is now so entirely wasted, that great 
disparity of opinion exists in regard to the identity 
of its site. It is not a little surprising that a city of 
such fame and extent, long the capital of Egypt, — 
adorned with temples, palaces, and all that art and 
wealth could achieve to give grandeur and perma- 
nency to its structures — should have become so com- 
pletely obliterated as to render its local position a 
question of uncertainty. Yet such is the mutability 
that destructively sweeps* over every work of man's 
invention, that the crumbled vestiges of antiquity, 
which now strew the supposed site of Memphis, are 
insufficient to clear the mind from doubt, and prevent 
cavilling and dispute in regard to the locality of this 
ancient city. 

We saw amid the smouldering mass at the base 

• Herod, ii. 176. f Ibid. t Ibid. ii. 153. 

Vol. L — 65 



514 ENGLISH PLUNDER AND BOASTING. 

of the mounds, fragments of columns, capitals, and 
other architectural remains. There was also a half- 
buried, mutilated colossal statue, which is called by 
Wilkinson the statue of Rameses II.* The " scien- 
tific antiquarians" have robbed this noble specimen 
of Egyptian art of both its feet, one arm, and a part 
of its cap. If entire, it would be upward of forty 
feet in height. It is supposed to be one of the co- 
lossal statues mentioned by Herodotusf and Diodo- 
rus,t which were erected by Sesostris in front of the 
Temple of Vulcan.§ 

A British author boasts of his country's posses- 
sion of the fragment, which, with a spirit of Van- 
dalism worthy the immortal renown of Lord Elgin, 
was taken by the spoilers of this statue. " One of 
the trophies," says he, "brought by our victorious 
army from Egypt, is the fist of a colossian statue, 
found among the ruins of Memphis, and very possi- 
bly it belonged to a statue of Vulcan.'^ I think I 
have seen this boasted " trophy" in the British Mu- 
seum ; and there are some other fragments of " a co- 
lossian statue" in the same collection, which " very 
possibly belonged to" the same relic, and were " very 
possibly" abstracted by the same " victorious army'* 
that spoiled this noble statue, and purloined its "fist." 
With the exception of these, and the fragments of 
another granite figure of colossal size, nearly covered 
by the earth, there is little to arrest the traveller's at- 

* Wilkinson's Thebes, 338, f Herod, ii. 110. 

t Biod. i. 57. § Wilkinson's Thebes, 339>. 



THE VILLAGE OF MIT-RAHENNY. 



515 



tention about Mit-rahenny, the name of the wretched 
village that now stands upon the ruins of " the most 
famous city of Egypt !" 




Colossal Fist — not yet in the possession of the British Museum- 
supposed TO BE Uncle Sam's. 



516 SEPAKATION OF FRIENDS. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Separation of Friends. — Flare-wp, and Boat-hunting. — Or- 
der of the Pacha and " Baron Pompolino.^' — Embarkation, 
Pyramids ofDashour, and a Wild-goose Chase. — An Eve- 
ning Circle. — Dancers of Ancient and Modern Egypt. — 
Dance of Miriam, David, Hippoclides, Herodias, and the 
Daughters of Shiloh. 

The total evaporation of Mr. Firkins, and the sub- 
sequent departure of Lord ScatterbeiTy and his Nu- 
bian slave up the Nile, created a vacuum in the Eng- 
lish circles at Cairo that w^as doomed to suffer a still 
more deplorable breach. Parliament w^as to be con- 
vened this year a month earlier than usual ; and it 
had been heralded throughout the universe that her 
Majesty v^ould open the sittings in person, w^ith ex- 
traordinary pomp. In order that the colonel might 
be in his seat in time to hear the royal speech from 
the throne, the Builderdashes had, for the present, 
abandoned all idea of extending their researches fur- 
ther in Egypt, and were to return immediately to 
England. 

The Wrinklebottoms, flea-bitten, vermin-haunted, 
chagrined and disheartened by a multiplicity of mis- 



BOAT-HUNTING. 517 

haps, had deliberately made up their minds that Cairo, 
without exception, was the " nastiest" place they had 
ever visited. Although the original plan of their 
travels embraced a much larger field than they had 
investigated, yet so disgusted had they become with 
every thing under the dominion of the Pacha, that 
they packed up their fire-arms, air-beds, musquitoe- 
nets, fly-traps, sketching-tools, and gin-bottles, and 
set off down the Nile — singing " Rule Britannia," 
and " God save the Queen !" 

The Reverend Mr. Dunderblix had struck hands 
with two young Frenchmen, and was deep in the 
chaos of preparation for an immediate departure 
across the Syrian desert to the Holy Land. 

A month had elapsed since the commencement of 
the daily donkey rides of Sir Danbury Rimtaper from 
Cairo to Bulak, in an unsuccessful search for a boat 
of sufficient size and elegance to convey him and his 
three maiden sisters to Thebes. Engaged in a simi- 
lar pursuit, we encountered that distinguished indi- 
vidual, limping from boat to boat, in a most cheerless 
state of mind. The north wind whistled through 
the vale, scattering the fine sands annoyingly on all 
who ventured within its blasts. The eyes of Sir 
Danbury, naturally inclining to a scarlet tinge and an 
excess of mucus, having been attacked by ophthal- 
mia, now presented a fiery aspect. His beard had 
attained an enormous length, resembling in its disor- 
dered, bristly condition, a pitch mop. The rheuma- 
tism had monopolized the use of his right arm ; and 
the gout was again developing itself in his lower ex- 



518 A FLARE-UP. 

tremities. Sir Danbury swore most bitterly, and said 
he had " never been caught in such a demmed extra- 
ordinary predicament in all his life, 'pon honour !" 

Doctor O'Squeebey had indulged in a valiant flare- 
up with our doughty dragoman, and had struck him 
several violent blows with his sabre. Selim swore 
revenge, and declared he would dissect the doctor 
with his corbash ! The dragoman had shown him- 
self so unworthy of our confidence, that we were at 
last determined to get rid of him. Upon giving him 
a hint that his resignation would be accepted, he ten- 
dered it to us ; and we left him and Doctor O'Squee- 
bey to settle their affair in the way they should deem 
most compatible with their respective positions in 
Egyptian society. 

On our first visit to Bulak, we were accosted by 
an Arab, who desired to charter a half-finished boat 
which lay upon the bank, assuring us, as he clinched 
his long beard, that it would be finished and ready 
to sail " to-morrow." Knowing the fellow's story to 
be untrue, and that it would take many days to com- 
plete it, we passed on with the expectation of being 
able to resume our voyage long before his boat would 
be in a condition to launch. Our expectations, how- 
ever, were not realized ; and the rais of the unfin- 
ished boat, constant from day to day in his importu- 
nities, induced us at last to examine it. A bargain 
was the result ; and we agreed to pay him fourteen 
hundred piasters per month for the boat and nine 
men, all found. The cabin was to be fitted up as we 
desired ; the boat was to have two masts, plenty of 



AN ORDER OF THE PACHA. 519 

canvass, an awning — in short, every thing that heart 
could wish was promised, and " all," as the rais said, 
" should be ready to-morrow." This we knew w^ould 
be impossible ; and w^e had an understanding that he 
should have three days more to complete every thing, 
and for every day's delay thereafter, he was to forfeit 
three days' pay of men and boat. Although every 
thing was amicably agreed upon, our difficulties had 
but just commenced. 

An order of the Pacha, prohibiting the sailing of 
any boat from Bulak, had just reached Cairo, and the 
governor was pressing boats and sailors into the Pa- 
cha's service, to carry corn from Upper Egypt to Alex- 
andria. This prohibitory order was generally waived 
in favour of the Franks ; but the rais was neverthe- 
less afraid to make application for leave to sail his 
boat, lest by so doing he might become a candidate 
for the bastinado. Consequently, the permission could 
only be obtained by us, through the medium of Mon- 
sieur le ^^ Baron Pom'polinoy 

Upon making our w^ants known to the consular 
dignitary, he pulled himself up to his full official alti- 
tude, assumed a grave and consequential demeanour, 
and began, in an inflated and affected style, to state 
the delicacy and difficulty of the negotiation. He 
more than hinted at our imprudence in not placing 
ourselves under his paternal care, and the guidance 
of his retainers ; informed us that no American could 
make a valid contract in Egypt without the broad 
seal pertaining to his office ; and stated the instance 
of Mr. C tt, who had sailed a few days previous 



520 BOAT-HUNTING. 

without his ratification of the agreement. He said that 

in case of any difficuUy between Mr. C tt and 

his men, he could not interpose the " powers of the 
consulate." He ordered his janizary and dragoman 
to go with us to the boat and arrange every thing. 

Being put under arrest, or rather, as it was called, 
under the protection of these appendages of the con- 
sulate, we posted off to Bulak. When we arrived at 
the boat, the dragoman condemned it as a miserable 
affair ; said it would not do at all, and could not pos- 
sibly be ready to sail short of ten days ! We were 
then conducted to another boat, bearing the French 
flag. To our surprise, the dragoman began to chaffer 
for the price of this boat ; and the rais, though al- 
ready engaged to a Frenchman, considered the prom- 
ise of increased wages a just pretext for violating his 
contract, and changing the tri-colours of a kingdom 
for the stripes and stars of a republic. 

We saw that our business was now in other hands ; 
and we had little more to do than to follow the drago- 
man from boat to boat, and from Cairo to Bulak, and 
from Bulak to Cairo. Two days were consumed 
by this diversion, and nothing accomplished. The 
Frenchman, however, ascertaining that his rais had 
endeavoured to charter his boat to the dragoman of 
" Baron Pompolino," caused him (the rais) to be 
severely bastinaded, and then pushed off down the 
Nile. 

The dragoman finally came back to the new boat 
which he had at first so emphatically condemned; 
and, after a few minutes' very confidential chat with 



BARON POMPOLINO. 521 

the rais, he found " it was just the very thing for us : 
nothing could answer our purpose half so well." He 
enlarged, in the oriental style, upon the good qualities 
of the boat and the amiabihty of the rais ; whereupon 
the old bargain being revived, the learned dragoman 
sat down on the floor and wrote an agreement. This 
document being drawn up in Arabic, we should have 
been left in the lurch at last, had it not been for the 
presence of a clever Syrian, who explained to us the 
import of the mysterious chirography, by which it 
appeared that we were firmly bound in the agree- 
ment ; but the fulfilment of the Arab's part of it was 
to be taken pretty much for granted. This Syrian 
was called a great rascal by " Baron Pompolino" and 
his household ; but we found him quite obHging and 
useful in this business. 

Permission to sail the boat having been obtained 
merely by asking, and the three days allowed the rais 
for putting every thing in sailing order having ex- 
pired, this lying son of the Prophet came and told us 
that all was ready, and requested us to take our lug- 
gage on board. We found, however, on going to 
the boat, that he, as usual, lied to us ; and that the 
deck was to be calked, the cabin finished, and the 
rudder made ; there were no sails, and only one mast ! 

Upon our making known this imposition to Baron 
Pompolino, he blustered about — said he would bring 
the "whole powers of the consulate to bear upon 
the case," and despatched his subtle dragoman and 
gay janizary with us back to the boat. A long con- 
versation with the rais ensued, to no purpose. By 

Vol. L — 66 



522 EMBARKATION. 

the assistance of the Syrian, who had kindly aided 

us during the illness of Mr. J , we brought the 

case before the captain of the port. He was a greasy 
Turk, with a most Tartarious countenance. Before 
we had informed him of half the circumstances, he 
said — "I will send for the rais, and bastinado him as 
long as you wish !" 

Our desire being merely to have the rais fulfil his 
agreement, we declined this proposition, and endeav- 
oured in vain to persuade him to go on and com- 
plete every thing as he had promised. This he re- 
fused to do, saying that his boat would sail as fast 
with one sail as other boats would with two ! To 
give this boasting all the eclat of eastern declamation, 
he said he would forfeit two hundred piasters per 
month if such did not prove to be the case. Upon 
asking him to reduce this proposition to writing, he 
declined ; and his friend the dragoman assured us it 
was quite unnecessary — "For the thing is under- 
stood," said he, " and that is sufficient." Our expe- 
rience had taught us the importance of putting agree- 
ments with the Arabs in writing ; and, in this case, 
we insisted upon it, with an intimation of an appeal 
to the virtues of the captain of the port's sovereign 
remedy, the bastinado. Seeing us determined, the 
rais complied with our request; and after a further 
delay of a day and a half, we set oiF with one sail.^ 

Embarking at Old Cairo, a favourable breeze soon 
wafted us past the palm-groves of Memphis and the 
crumbHng pyramids of Dashour. Having adverse 
winds the two following days, the pyramids still re- 
mained in sight. 



THE PYRAMIDS OF DAJSHOUR. 523 

Two of these pyramids, which are of stone, have 
been opened. The summit of one is finished at a 
more obtuse angle than the lower part. This, as is 
supposed, was done for the more rapid com|)letion 
of the structure.* One of the brick pyramids of 
Dashour bears this inscription : " Compare me not 
with the stone pyramids, for I am as much superior 
to them as Jove is to the other gods. Thus was I 
made : men probing with poles the bottom of a lake, 
drew forth the mud which adhered to them, and form- 
ed it into bricks."t Some have conjectured that these 
pyramids were constructed by the Israelites. 

Myriads of wild fowl hovered over the Nile, and 
we often saluted them with discharges of musketry. 

Mr. J shattered the wing of a goose so severely 

that it was unable to rise from the water ; and the 
Arabs, thinking it an easy prey, put the boat about, 
and after a vain pursuit of an hour, we gave it up as 
a regular " wild-goose chase." 

On the third day, as the sun's last rays tinged the 
hoary tops of Libya's heights, the sailors hauled the 
boat up in front of a palm-shaded village on the left 
side of the river, and staked it for the night. The 
full moon shone brightly in the heavens ; the golden 
current of the Nile glided gently down, and mirrored 
back the dark forms and faces of the village nymphs, 
as they dipped their jugs into the water, and bore 
them oflf upon their heads. Music rose upon the still- 
ness of the night, and dancing, beneath the pending 

• Wilkinson's Thebes, 338. 

t Herod, ii. 136, and Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 131. 



624 



DANCING-GIRLS OF EGYPT. 



leaves of spreading palms, soon commenced. We 
walked to the scene of mirth, and found the half-clad 
villagers revelling in the wild delights of their rude 
amusements. As we approached, the joyous throng 
hospitably enlarged its circle, and we sat down in the 
space kindly made for our accommodation. 




Dancing-Girls of Egypt, 

The music was primitive and peculiar. An old 
man, with a venerable beard and ample turban, sat 
upon the ground, torturing a two-stringed instrument. 
His doleful strains were accompanied by the wild, in- 
congruous notes of a gipsy-looking female sitting near 
him, beating upon a tambourine. In the centre of 



DANCERS OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 525 

the ring, two young and beautiful girls, with graceful 
forms and flowing attire, were " tripping it on the 
light fantastic toe" in a style which I have never seen 
imitated in any other country. 

" With sports like these were all their cares beguiled ; — 
The sports of children satisfy the child." 

Dancing-women are numerous in all the large 
towns of Egypt. Though venal and abandoned in 
character, they are the most beautiful w^omen in the 
country. They are said to form a distinct race;* 
never intermarrying with other classes, and devoting 
themselves to the same occupations from generation 
to generation. Their husbands are looked upon in 
the light of servants ; who, like the old Egyptians, are 
governed by the whims and caprices of their " better 
halves." Their dress is usually the same as is worn 
in the harems, and they are often adorned with a pro- 
fusion of ornaments. 

The delineations upon the ancient tombs testify to 
the antiquity of dancing in Egypt. The dancers at 
some of their private entertainments are represented 
even more licentious than the exhibitions of the cour- 
tesan dancers of the present day — "Though in the 
presence of men of high station, they are depicted 
in a state of perfect nudity ."f These scenes are 
painted upon some of the oldest tombs ; and we are 
assured that " the 'pirouette delighted an Egyptian 
party more than thirty-five hundred years ago."t 
From the varied attitude and gestures of these repre- 
sentations of the ancients, their movements were 

* Lane's Modern Egyptians, ii. 101. t Ibid. ii. 102. 

I Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii. 333. 



526 ANCIENT DANCERS. 

diversified and graceful. " That tliej danced at the 
temples in honour of the gods, is evident from the 
representations of several sacred processions, where 
individuals performed certain gestures to the sound 
of suitable music, and danced as they approached the 
sacred courts."^ 

This amusement v^as unquestionably indulged in 
by the Egyptians before the Exodus of the Israelites ; 
and the dance of Miriam and the women who went 
out after her " with timbrels and with dances,"! sub- 
sequent to the crossing of the Red Sea, was probably 
the same as those of the Egyptians of that period. 
David, after a solemn sacrifice, " danced before the 
Lord with all his might ;"{ and he says, " Let them 
praise his name in the dance."§ When he was re- 
turning from the slaughter of the Philistines, the wo- 
men came out to meet him " from all the cities of 
Israel, singing and dancing."|| Solomon assures us 
that " there is a time to dance ;"![ and the prcjphet 
says : " O virgin of Israel, thou shalt again be adorned 
with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of 
them that make merry."** 

The daughters of Shiloh unwittingly danced them- 
selves into the matrimonial state.ft But Hippochdes, 
with his heels in the air, " danced away his wife."t{ 
All nations have their peculiar dances ; and possibly 
the dance of the frail daughters of the Nile, which 
we saw while seated with the Arabs upon its banks, 
may be the same kind of performance with which 

• Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii. 340. f Exodus xv. 20. 

X 2 Sam. vi. 14. § Psalm cxlix. 3. || 1 Sam. xviii. 6. IT Eccl. iii. 4. 
** Jer. xxi. 4. ff Judges xxi. 21-23. U Herod, vi. 129. 



ANCIENT DANCING. 



527 



the earliest Pharaohs were entertained. Jacob, Jo- 
seph and his brethren, Moses and Aaron — all may 
have been amused with the same kind of exhibition, 
upon the borders of the same river ; and, for aught we 
know, it may not have been dissimilar to that of He- 
rodias, which delighted Herod and his drunken lords, 
and cost John the Baptist his head !* 

* Mark vi. 22-28. 




A Tattooed Egyptian Girl. 



528 A SIJDDEN DEMAND. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Sudden and pressing Demand. — Idiots and Lunatics regarded 
as Saints. — Female Devotion to the Holy Persons, — De- 
scription of the Crocodile and its Habits. — Worshipped as 
a Deity by the Ancients. — Ghenneh, its Manufactures^ and 
His Excellency the Governor. — Rough Reception of the 
Rais. — Solicited to enter upon the Practice of Medicine. — 
Ji Mystery solved, and a rare Specimen of Smoking. 

After two days' baffling against wind and current, 
with the men at the rope, a light breeze had partially 
filled our sail, and we were gliding moderately past 
a high ledge of sand-stone rock that hung over the 
stream, blackened with wild fowl, taking their places 

in the shelvy crevices for the night. Mr. J raised 

his gun to discharge its contents among them, when, 
to their alarm and our surprise, two men suddenly 
rose upon the summit of the ledge, vociferating, — • 
*' Buckshish ! huckshish ! Cristidno haivdgee, — buck- 

shish r Mr. J dropped his gun, and the two 

strangers rushed down the precipice with fearful ra- 
pidity. One plunged into the stream and swam tow- 
ard the boat, in order to press his demand more em- 
phatically on board. The breeze swept us on, and 
the current bore him far astern. Missing his aim, he 



SUPERSTITIOUS FEARS. 529 

was compelled to land far down on the opposite side 
of the river. But he had no sooner touched the 
shore, than, taking to his heels, he ran on a consid- 
erable distance above us, plunged in again, and came 
down in fine style. He soon had hold of the boat, 
and pleaded hard for huckshish ; but having lost our 
shot at the ducks by his noisy importunities, we were 
not in a mood for " casting our bread upon the wa- 
ters" in such an equivocal vessel. On being made ac- 
quainted with the obduracy of our hearts, he returned 
to his companion, the faint outline of whose figure 
was still visible through the dim shades of twilight ; 
and his voice resounded upon the gathering night — 
*^ Buckshish ! Cristidno howdgee, huckshish T 

The superstitious sailors, shocked at our stupidity 
in refusing to satisfy the clamorous demands of these 
strangers, religiously believed that we had thereby in- 
curred the displeasure of the Prophet, and that we 
would surely all be cast away ! These were some 
friars, who, with many more of their brethren, waste 
their existence in an old convent in the cliffs of the 
mountain, begging their bread from the Egyptians, 
who regard them as saints. 

On the seventh day, we touched at Minieh, an old 
town on the left bank of the river, with several thou- 
sand as wretched beings as we had seen in Egypt 
None of them were very lavishly decked with cloth- 
ing, and one, an idiot, was perambulating the streets 
stark naked! This would not have surprised us 
much, were it not for the flattering attentions he re- 
ceived from the women. They flocked about him, 

Vol. L — 67 



530 LUNATICS REGARDED AS SAINTS. 

and almost smothered the filthy creature with their 
embraces. We were informed that this man and all 
others similarly afflicted, as well as harmless lunatics, 
are regarded by the Egyptians as the especial favour- 
ites of Heaven, whose minds, having been absolved 
from all impurity, and taken their upward flight, re- 
pose in the celestial regions ; while their bodies, unfit 
for heaven, linger in giddy vacancy upon the earth ! 
"Most of the reputed saints of Egypt are lunatics, 
idiots, and impostors. Some of them go about en- 
tirely naked, and are so highly venerated that the wo- 
men, instead of avoiding them, sometimes suffer these 
wretches to take any liberty with them in the public 
streets ; and, by the lower orders, are not considered 
disgraced by such actions."* 

Availing ourselves of a favourable breeze, we loos^ 
ened our boat, and swept away on the voyage. We 
were soon in the region of crocodiles, and saluted 
them with many harmless discharges of musketry. 
This produced no other eiffect than to rouse these 
sluggish monsters from their dull repose, and cause 
them to plunge their huge black forms beneath the 
waves. 

" He maketh the deep to boil Uke a pot. Who 
can open the doors of his face 1 his teeth are terri- 
ble round about. His scales are his pride, shut up 
together as with a close seal. None is so fierce as 
dare stir him up : who then is able to stand before 
him ? He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rot- 
ten wood."t 

* Lane's Modem Egyptians, i. 313. f Job xU. 10, 14, 15, 27, 3k 



CROCODILE OF THE NILE. 



531 



This representation of the leviathan answers very 
well for that of the crocodile ; and by many it is sup- 




Crocodile of the Nile. 

posed the latter vras the monster described by the 
Lord unto Job " out of the whirlwind."* I have seen 
crocodiles of various sizes — some, I should judge, of 
twenty-five or thirty feet in length ; and they are rep- 
resented in some instances as of the enormous length 
of fifty feet ! We were often near enough to dis- 
charge a ball with full force against their impervious 
sides ; but all attacks of this Mnd were ineffectual. 
They are invulnerable in all parts except the belly, 
which may be penetrated by a musket-ball or spear. 
Their voracity and strength are surprising. " With 
one stroke of his tail," says Mallet, " I saw one of 
twelve feet, which had eaten nothing for thirty-five 
days, throw down five or six men and a bale of coffee." 

* Job xl. 6. 



532 HABITS OF THE CROCODILE. 

Herodotus says : " During the four severer months 

of winter, it eats nothing No animal that I have 

seen or know^n, from being at first so remarkably di- 
minutive, growls to so vast a size .... The eggs are 
not larger than those of geese .... It has eyes like a 
hog, teeth large and prominent ; but, unlike all other 
animals, it has no tongue. It only moves its upper 
jaw .... Its feet are armed with strong fangs .... The 

skin is protected with scales In the open air its 

sight is remarkably acute, but it cannot see at all in 

the water Its throat is always full of leeches ; 

beasts and birds universally avoid it .... It reclines 
itself on the sand with its mouth open ; the trochilus, 
entering its throat, destroys the leeches ; in acknowl- 
edgment for which service, it never does the trochi- 
lus injury."^ 

Diodorus says that were it not for the ichneumon, 
which destroys the crocodiles and their eggs, " croco- 
diles would abound to that degree, that there would 
be no saiUng in the Nile .... The ichneumon rolls 
himself in mud, and then, observing the crocodile 
sleeping upon the bank of the river with his mouth 
wide open, suddenly whips down through his throat 
into his bowels, gnaws his way through the belly, and 
so escapes himself, with the death of his enemy ."f 

The ancient Egyptians living at Thebes and about 
the lake Moeris, regarded this monster as a god, 
" They select one," says Herodotus, " which they ren- 
der tame and docile, suspending gold ornaments from 
its ears, and sometimes gems of value ; the fore feet 

• Herod, ii. 68. f Diod. i. 87. 



ARRIVAL AT GHENNEH. 533 

are secured by a chain. They feed it with the flesh 
of the sacred victims, and with other appointed food. 
While it Hves, they treat it with unceasing attention ; 
and when it dies, it is first embalmed, and afterward 
deposited in a sacred chest."* 

While crocodiles were worshipped at Thebes, they 
were devoured by the inhabitants of Elephantine,! 
and destroyed as an obnoxious and detested creature 
by the citizens of Dendera.J Near el-Maabdeh, op- 
posite Maufaloot, there are extensive chambers cut in 
the rock, and filled with crocodile mummies.§ 

The fourteenth day's struggling with the current, 
head winds, and lazy sailors, brought us to Ghenneh, 
one of the largest towns in Upper Egypt. It is built 
of mud and sun-dried brick, and contains twenty-one 
thousand inhabitants. It stands on the right bank of 
the river, in the midst of a broad and fertile plain, 
backed by the Arabian mountains, which stretch am- 
phitheatrically round on three sides. Here the Pacha 
has a cotton factory and large storehouses. As the 
granaries of his Highness had no roofs, the pigeons, 
in countless thousands, were dividing the spoils, while 
the stupid guardians, seated in the sand at the gate, 
were smoking their pipes, regardless of almost every 
thing else passing around them. Here too is an 
extensive pottery or manufactory of water-jugs. As 
a specimen of the price of the products of Upper 
Egypt, it may be sufficient to say, that a dozen good- 
sized jugs cost only five cents ; milk two and a half 

• Herod, ii. 69. f Ibid. J Ibid, note 130. 

§ Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, iii. 401. 



534 AN ORIENTAL POTTER. 

cents per gallon ; fifty-six eggs, five cents ; and the 
sailors bought a hundred and sixty loaves of bread 
for ten cents ! These are among the effects of the 
" corn laws" of Egypt. 




An Oriental Potter. 

While our servant was making a few purchases in 
the bazar, we called to pay our respects to the Gov- 
ernor of Ghenneh. We found his Excellency seated 
upon a mat in an upper chamber, surrounded by his 
myrmidons in costume, armed to the teeth. The 
court of his residence was filled with soldiers ; and 
the great staircase conducting to the audience-hall 
was lined with janizaries, loaded with pistols, sa- 
bres, and staves. We were received with much cor- 
diality ; and, after coffee and pipes, and a little chat 
of a general nature, we revealed to the governor the 
perplexity we had experienced from our rais. 



ROUGH RECEPTION OF THE RAIS. 535 

This fellow, who was by his agreement to do the 
work of two men, that is, perform the duties of cap- 
tain and pilot, had really done nothing but embarrass 
us. He had annoyed us in every possible manner, 
and used all his influence with the crew to make them 
as bad as himself Immediately upon hearing our com- 
plaint, the governor ordered the refractory rais to be 
brought before him. Several armed janizaries being 
despatched for that purpose, soon returned with the 
awe-struck delinquent, w^ho prostrated himself in the 
dust, and kissed the governor's feet. As he obsequi- 
ously raised himself . from the floor, the governor 
pierced him with a look that made him shudder, and 
then vociferated a thunder-gust of angry words upon 
the slavish Egyptian, which really made us apprehen- 
sive for his safety. 

The governor proposed to bastinade him, but we 
were only desirous that he should be brought to a 
sense of his duty, and interposed in his behalf; and 
the trembling rais was finally dismissed from the ter- 
rible presence of this Turkish governor, with the 
threat, that " should he hear the least complaint on 
our return, he would half kill him (the rais) and all 
the crew !" 

Taking respectful leave of his Excellency, we re- 
turned to the boat, found the rais and all the men at 
their posts, and, giving our sail to the wind, we bore 
off again upon the voyage. 

' In our rambles on shore, we had numerous appli- 
cations from the natives for " medical advice and at- 
tendance." One had a scorched head and sore eyes; 



636 A STRANGE CRAFT. 

another had a spUt toe and a battered shin ; a third a 
shattered shoulder and a cracked scull ; a fourth was 
doubled into a crescent with the cramp ; a fifth was 
leprous ; a sixth wanted her nose bored, and a dose 
of pills. In short, sick or well, all wanted physic, 
and placed the most implicit confidence in our medi- 
cal skill. They would have taken any thing at our 
hands ; and had we been furnished with material, and 
a disposition for such wickedness, we might, for aught 
I know, have poisoned half the Arabs of Upper Egypt. 
However, we wandered on, , curious to know how 
they found out that we were all physicians, and im- 
pressed with the richness of this field for the patent 
nostrums, red-pepper doses, and steam-filtering prac- 
tice so extensively in vogue in this enlightened age. 

Resuming our places on board, we glided on with- 
out meeting a crocodile all day. We began to thirst 
for wonders and excitation. While we were thus 
struggling in the uneasy arms of ennui, we descried 
in the distance an unwieldy lumbering craft floating 
down sideways. She had the American flag stream- 
ing over her, and made such a sluggish, water-logged 
kind of headway, that we at first thought it a wreck. 
Her masts were taken down, and she was drifting at 
random. It was the first Frank boat we had seen ; 
and, although under the protection of the stars and 
stripes of our own country, her appearance was every 
way so outre, her movements so indolent and ana- 
conda-like, that we concluded some renegade Dutch- 
men or vegetating Turks had assumed our spangled 
banner ; and, abandoning themselves to the sluggish 



A WELL-STOCKED BOAT. 537 

current, were fuming their hours away in listnessness 
and ease. It was some time before we discovered 
any signs of animal existence on board. No hving 
thing was visible, and the attention of all our men 
was riveted upon the approaching phenomenon. 

We ordered one of the men, a Nubian, who had a 
stentorian voice, to hail the enigmatical craft ; and, 
should there be Americans on board, to request the 
favour of an interview. The old sailor, advancing 
to the bow of the boat, vociferated a salutation that 
filled the vale, and resounded far up toward his na- 
tive hills. This roused the torpid voyageurs, and af- 
ter a voluble " how-d'ye-do" between our respective 
crews, both boats were run against the bank. 

The boat of the stranger was nearly as large as the 
ship in which Columbus discovered the New World. 
The deck was filled with men ; and a small flock of 
sheep were penned up on one side, with a capacious 
hen-coop, well stocked with poultry, suspended over 
their heads. Bird-cages, fishing-nets, traps, guns, pis- 
tols, and daggers, hung in well-arranged lines in front 
of the cabin. The main-mast, lashed down length- 
wise of the boat, at an elevation of five or six feet 
above the deck, was strung from one end to the other 
with stuffed lizards, alligators, crocodiles, salaman- 
ders, mummied cats, bats, snakes, and hawks ; while 
hippopotamus shields, spears, bows, arrows, and jave- 
lins were mingled with numerous other reminiscences 
of travel, and suspended from different parts of the 
rigging. The whole resembled a " curiosity shop," 

Vol. L — 68 



538 ELABORATE SMOKING. 

or rather a vessel of discovery returning from a three 
years' cruise off the coast of Barbary. 

The American (for there was only one on board) 
was a little dapper man of slender figure, standing, 
in his spangled, peaked-toed Turkish slippers, about 
five feet one. His head was shaved, and the strag- 
gling red hairs vegetating about the corners of his ca- 
daverous mouth were carefully gathered into a kind 
of fiery mustache, giving to his freckled visage an air 
of striking significance. His face, burnt to a crisp 
by the sun, might not inappositely be compared to 
the face of a red cornelian letter-stamp, with his name 
engraved upon it in the Arabic characters. He wore 
a red turboosh and fancy jacket, of eastern cut. His 
"inexpressibles" were of an ambiguous character, a 
sort of fabrication between the Highland kilt and bag 
breeches of the Greek sailors. He held a quizzing- 
glass in one hand, and a long-stemmed, full-charged, 
fuming pipe in the other. He saluted us in the ori- 
ental manner ; and his squeaking voice, set to a fal- 
setto key, was skilfully modulated to the foreign ac- 
cent. Every sentence he uttered was a perfect study, 
and came forth with an exactness and elevation wor- 
thy the reputation of " Lord Burleigh." He embel- 
lished his brilliant and edifying conversation with 
some of the most elaborate and highly-finished whiffs 
from his Arab pipe that I have ever seen burst from 
human lips ! Each puff of smoke, as it mingled with 
the air, seemed but the very embodiment or fac simile 
of both the outer and inner man of the accomplished 
smoker. This acquirement was particularly remark- 



SUDDEN FORGETFULNESS. 539 

ed and greatly admired by all our party, and conce- 
ded at once to be the prettiest thing of the kind we 
had ever seen. From the well-dressed blackleg who 
picks his teeth upon the door-steps of the "Astor;" 
the English swell, who sports his gig and hounds ; the 
imperturbable German, who vegetates and expires in 
the delightful fumes of his favourite narcotic ; the 
sombre Dutchman, who shrouds the dull waters of 
his gloomy country with the eternal blasts of his pipe ; 
the plethoric Turk, who beclouds his existence in 
perfumed exhalations bursting from costly amber, to 
the filthy Arab, who trims his corn-stalk pipe in the 
sands of Egypt — I have never seen any thing of the 
kind in point of finish to equal the performance of 
our own little countryman whom we encountered on 
the banks of the Nile. 

He was a little bewildered as to his whereabouts ; 
said he had lost the day of the week, and the day 
and name of the month ; he could not rightly inform 
us when he set out from Cairo, but believed it was in 
the beginning of winter. He did not know precisely 
where he had been, or what he had seen, and apolo- 
gized for forgetting his native tongue ! He said he 
had rarely spoken any other than the French lan- 
guage during his voyage, and offered that as an un- 
necessary apology for his bad English. I congratu- 
lated him upon still being able to speak his own 
language tolerably well ; and I afterward remarked 
to my companions, tl^at such was my estimation of 
his abihties, I had little doubt that, were he to drop 
his French and apply himself strictly to the English 



540 



RUINS OF THEBES. 



for a few weeks, he would master his mother tongue 
so effectually, that no one would have the least suspi- 
cion of his ever having spoken a word of French in his 
Hfe. The doctor said, " He was a promising young 
man, and was Hkely to return home wondrously im- 
proved by foreign travel." Exchanging adieus and 
good wishes with our countryman, we unfurled our 
sail, and were soon wafted amid^the indestructible 
ruins of Thebes. 




View of the Memnonium at Thebes during the Inundation. 



THEBES. 541 



CHAPTER XL. 

Thebes, — Temples of Luqsor and Kamak, — Esneh and the 
Temple of Latopolis. — An agreeable Meeting. — Ameri- 
can, Scotch, and English Amalgamation. — JYatives of 
Upper Egypt. — Quarries of Gebel Silsili. — Ruins of 
Kom Ombos. — Arrival at the Cataracts. — The American 
Consul. — Peter J. Scantletrash and his Servant Paul. — 
Elephantine. — Quarries of Syene. — E'Souan. 

" Not all proud Thebes' unrivalled walls contain, 
The world's great empress on the Egyptian plain, 
That spreads her conquest o'er a thousand states, 
And pours her heroes through a hundred gates ; 
Two hundred horsemen, and two hundred cars, 
From each wide portal issuing to the wars !" 

DioDORUS says : " Thebes was in circuit a hundred 
and forty furlongs, adorned with stately public build- 
ings, magnificent temples, and rich donations and rev- 
enues to admiration ; and not only the most beautiful 
and stateHest city of Egypt, but of the whole world."* 

The mind is forcibly impressed with the truth of 
this glowing picture of Thebes, even in contempla- 
ting the ruins that strew her desecrated site. The 
Arabian and Libyan mountains, rising into a bold out- 
line, encircle, as with half-clasped arms, its crushed 

* Diod. i. 51. 



64^ THEBES. 

temples and fallen colossi, which mingle with the soil 
on either side of the river, whose broad current sweeps 
through the fertile plain. The violated tombs of its 
ancient inhabitants, perforating the surrounding ac- 
cUvities, are now the polluted abodes of the modern 
Egyptians, and defiled with the excrement of their 
goats and donkeys ! 

Yet, amid all this desecration and defilement, 
Thebes abounds in rich and astonishing relics of 
departed greatness, remains of enlightened genera- 
tions long since passed away ; remains which, though 
crushed and spoiled by successive conquerors, and 
robbed by Vandal relic-venders, grow not old with 
time ; but, with venerable centuries thick upon them, 
retain the freshness and finish of new achievements. 
The mysterious, unread, and unreadable writing of 
three thousand years ago, now embellishing the dese- 
crated tombs and fallen temples of Thebes, is yet 
vivid and glowing with all the brightness of new-laid 
tints ! Mossless and unbrowned with time, the pol- 
ished obelisk, glistening like burnished brass, with 
thirty centuries poured upon its heaven-directed apex, 
still soars sublime and beautiful amid dissolving ruins ! 
Founded as hills of living rock, and towering before 
the crumbled temples, lofty gateways, through which 
Egypt's Pharaohs strode in state to worship at their 
golden altars, stand yet xrnshaken, the proud monu- 
ments of a faded glory ! Bereaved columns and 
bruised colossi, rearing their time-defying summits 
above the expanding plain, bear not the marks of age, 
but rather the Vandal crush of the spoiler ! 



TEMPLE OF LUQSOR. 543 

The ruin at Luqsor, where we landed, and whicji 
occupies a part of the site of ancient DiospoUs, or 
Thebes, is a temple, the work of successive mon- 
archs, who were upon the throne of Egypt nearly 
thirty-two hundred years ago !* It stands upon 
a slight elevation on the right bank of the Nile, 
from the encroachments of which it is defended by 
a substantial pier, constructed of massive stone, ap- 
parently of Greek or Roman workmanship. The 
entrance to this temple is through a lofty gateway 
two hundred feet long, which rises nearly ^ixty feet 
above the level of the soil. On either side of the 
portal are two colossal statues, in a sitting posture ; 
and, though shrouded nearly to the breast in sand, 
about twenty feet of each are still visible, and bear 
.incontestable proof of the wanton depredations of the 
relic-hunter. Before the statues, two beautiful obe- 
lisks of red granite, measuring nearly ten feet square 
at the base, rose to the height of eighty feet. One 
of these has been removed at a vast expense by tha 
French, and now soars above the blood-stained soil 
of the Place Louis XV. at Paris. The other, still 
fresh and beautiful, rears its majestic proportions over 
the battered ruins that encumber its base. Entering 
the portal, we stood in an area about two hundred 
feet long and a hundred and seventy broad. This is 
surrounded by two rows of columns. Leaving the 
area, we passed a colonnade of colossal structure, a 
hundred and seventy feet in length ; this conducts to 
an open court, a hundred and sixty-seven by a hun- 

• Wilkinson's Thebes, 166, 167; and his Ancient Egyptians, i. 48. 



544 TEMPLE OF KAENAK. 

dred and fifty-five feet, encircled by a peristyle with 
twenty-four columns, and connected with a portico, 
a hundred and eleven by fifty-seven feet, supported 
by thirty-two columns. To this succeeds the princi- 
pal rooms of the temple, which were of different di- 
mensions, and are now in a state of complete dilapi- 
dation. The Arabs have built their cabins of mud 
against the temple on all sides ; and perhaps where 
Pharaoh knelt before his gilded god, surrounded by 
all the vain " pomp and circumstance" of royalty, a 
donkey now brays and mires in filth ! 

This temple was connected with those still more 
splendid and extensive of Karnak by an avenue lined 
on either hand by colossal sphinxes. The remains 
of many of these are yet visible above the rank grass 
and accumulations which have been long gathering 
upon the consecrated path. 

The remains of the temple at Karnak are the glory 
of all the ruins of Thebes ; in the contemplation of 
which all other objects of the kind dwindle into com- 
parative insignificance. Contrasted with these, the 
Parthenon, the Theseum of Athens, and the time- 
worn temples of Psestum seem but delicate bawbles, 
that may be tossed from hand to hand, and mingled 
with the ornaments of a lady's casket ; the Coliseum 
of Rome might be converted into a turboosh, and 
the lofty columns of the temple of Jupiter Olympus 
at Athens may be used as walking-sticks ! 

No language can convey to the reader an adequate 
idea of the vastness and extent of these ruins, nor 
their overpowering influence upon the mind of the 



RUINS OF KARNAK. 545 

beholder. We traversed them over and over again, 
rode around them, measm-ed com'ts, encompassed 
columns, sm*veyed chambers and porticoes, ascended 
towers, and mused over broken statues, until, fatigued 
with wonder and excitement, we left the desolate 
heap almost bewildered, and without a satisfactory 
conception of the detailed plan of this indestructible 
ruin. All that I shall attempt, therefore, will be to 
give some idea of the general plan and arrangement 
of this mighty ruin, as it appeared to us in our cur- 
sory examinations. 

It had originally twelve entrances, nearly all of 
which had connexion, by long avenues of sphinxes, 
with other temples. That conducting to the temple 
at Luqsor was a mile and a half in extent ; and that 
leading from the gigantic gateway on the north-west 
side, to the river, was nearly of the same length. This 
was the grand front, and faced a magnificent tem- 
ple on the opposite side of the river, where its 
ruins are yet conspicuous. The great propylon on 
the north-west side, built of undressed stone, is three 
hundred and fifty feet long, thirty in width, and rises 
seventy feet above the rubbish at the base, which 
seemed to be at least thirty feet in depth. This 
enormous gateway, therefore, was originally at least 
one hundred feet in height. The pylon, twenty-three 
feet in width and fifty feet high, opens upon a court 
two hundred and seventy-five feet wide and three 
hundred and thirty feet long. On either side there 
are a close wall, and a row of columns twenty-seven 
feet in circumference. The columns and walls are 

Vol. L — 69 



546 RUINS OF KARNAK. 

covered with hieroglyphics, and nearly concealed by 
fallen rubbish. A double row of columns, sixty feet 
in height and tw^enty-seven in circumference, ex- 
tended through the centre of the court. Only one 
of these is standing, and with its expansive capital 
overshadowing its fallen companions, it is a sublime 
and beautiful object. The court terminates with a 
second propylon, three hundred and three feet long, 
and, according to the best measurement we could ob- 
tain, fifty feet thick at the base. This Cyclopean 
structure now lies in ruins, and resembles a small 
mountain of rock, broken and thrown down in great 
confusion. The doorway opening through this pro- 
pylon into the grand portico of the temple, is nearly 
perfect, and richly embellished with sculpture and 
painting. It cannot be less than sixty feet in height, 
and yet some of the sand-stone blocks forming the 
top of it are forty feet ten inches long and five 
feet two square !* The grand hall, three hundred 
and thirty feet in length and a hundred and seventy 
in width, is adorned with a hundred and thirty-four 
massive columns. These are all elaborately sculp- 
tured and painted. Twelve of them, thirty-six feet 
in circumference, are sixty-six feet high, exclusive of 
the pedestal and abacus ; but with these, they are over 
seventy feet in height. The one hundred and twen- 
ty-two others are twenty-seven and a half feet in cir- 
cumference and forty-two feet high. This gorgeous 
hall is terminated by a massive propylon on the east, 
beyond which is a large court with a magnificent obe- 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, iii. 332. 



RUINS OF KARNAK. 547 

lisk nearly one hundred feet high. Another of simi- 
lar dimensions Ues in shattered fragments at its base. 
Passing a fourth propylon, there are two other obe- 
lisks of surpassing beauty, surrounded by rows of 
broken colossal figures. To these succeed another 
dilapidated propylon, and another court of similar di- 
mensions. Beyond this a granite gateway opens into 
the court of the sanctuary. The sanctuary, construct- 
ed of polished granite, comprises two apartments with 
azure roofs, spangled with stars of gold, and surround- 
ed by numerous chambers, of various size and embel- 
lishment. We have now reached the sanctuary, 
through only one of the twelve entrances. Corre- 
sponding to that already described, and commencing 
at a distance of twelve hundred feet east of the sanc- 
tuary, another passage opened through propylons^ 
courts, colonnades, and porticoes, and conducted to 
the sanctum sanctorum, or holy of holies. Tottering 
gateways in all directions open their vacant and deso- 
late portals upon the ruined temple, whose massive 
walls that now strew the plain were sculptured with 
the battle-scenes, conquests, and sacrificial offerings 
of the long line of Pharaohs, who contributed to its 
vast extent, and added to the sumptuosity of its adorn- 
ment. 

The wind being favourable for the continuation of 
our voyage, we postponed the further examination of 
the ruins of Thebes till our return from the cataracts. 

In two days we were at Esneh, the ancient La- 
topolis. On the morning after our arrival, we rose 
with the sun, delighted with the gladsome face of na- 



648 TEMPLE OF LATOPOLIS. 

ture. The beauteous songsters of the Nile flitted 
along its green-fringed banks, revelling in joy. But 
man, sombre and sad, walked forth from his rude 
habitation the incarnation of misery ! Why is it 
that, surrounded by scenes so deUghtful, basking be- 
neath a perpetually cloudless sky, which is hghted up 
with a sun that never disappears but to rise again 
with renewed splendour, — man, loathsome, filthy, 
wretched man, is the only blotch upon the fair pic- 
ture ! Yet so it is. 

Esneh is situated on the left bank of the Nile, 
overlooking a broad and fertile plain which, when we 
were there (first of February), was green with volup- 
tuous herbage. This is the residence of a number 
of Coptic families ; but it is mainly interesting to the 
general tourist on account of the portico of an an- 
cient temple, said to be the most perfect specimen of 
Egyptian architecture extant. 

The portico is supported by twenty-four columns, 
beautified with sculpture and vivid colours. The 
devices upon the capitals are slightly varied one from 
another. On one, the lotus-leaves are shooting up 
their prim and formal proportions ; another is encir- 
cled with the hanging vine ; a third is decked with 
the graceful palm-leaf; a fourth is entwined with ivy 
festoons : thus all are slightly varied ; but so regular 
in their irregularity, and so beautiful withal, that, to 
the cursory observer, the difierence is not perceptible. 
The zodiac is sculptured on the ceiling, and on some 
of the deified figures the ignoble names of vain trav- 
ellers are deeply chiselled ; though for what purpose, 1 



AN AGREEABLE MEETING. 549 

do not know, except it be to record the fact that on a 
certain time some fools were there. The entablatm*e is 
composed of massive blocks of stone, stretching from 
column to column, and comprising in each piece 
architrave, frieze, and cornice — sitting back at the 
same time far enough to cover the columns, which 
are about six feet in diameter. The portico is cov- 
ered on all sides with hieroglyphics. This beautiful 
relic of Egyptian art is now half concealed by sand 
and filth. Arab huts are clustered round, and Pha- 
raoh's temple contains Mehemet Ah's cotton-bags, 
mustard-seed, and beans ! 

As we were chatting over a cup of tea in the 
twihght of the second day after we left Esneh, we 
saw a large boat coming down, with two flags. As 
they neared us, a salute was fired, signals were ex- 
changed, and we discovered that it was an amalga- 
mation company of American, Scotch, and English. 
Boats were run ashore, calls exchanged, corks drawn, 
pipes lighted, coffee circulated, and mutual inquiries 
made and responded to with a cordiality that did 
one's heart good. Though we were strangers to each 
other, it was a social and an agreeable meeting. I 
cannot but think, however, that it was owing in a 
great measure to the influence of the American over 
his two companions. One was an English " half pay 
officer," with brown gaiter boots, red cap, blue stock, 
shaved head, and flashy vest ; the other an easy Scotch 
gentleman, with long beard and tartan breeches. They 
had chartered the boat together, but the American 
insisted upon sailing under the flag of his own coun- 



550 AN AMALGAMATION. 

try ; and the stars and stripes were flying at one end 
of the boat, while the EngUsh colours streamed from 
a flag-staff at the other. They had been a long time 
on the Nile, and looked rather brown from the effects 
of sun, toil, and pleasure. The American, free in 
conversation, intelligent, and easy in manners, was 
inclined to take things quietly, and to allow him- 
self the necessary time to see every object of interest 
in a rational way. He was in no hurry ; thought the 
voyage had been delightful ; in short, nothing went 
amiss with him. The red-haired Scotchman took 
snuff and smoked most profoundly. He had nothing 
to say about the voyage, except that " it had been 
rather expensive." The " half pay officer" was not 
so tranquil. He swore most characteristically ; noth- 
ing had gone right ; " the boat was too heavy, the 
men bad, and the rais a fiend." He was afflicted 
with a bile, had sore eyes, could not drink the " nasty" 
water ; fleas bit him, vermin annoyed him through 
the day, and rats cantered over him during the night. 
As he gave us the list of his grievances, his face as- 
sumed a convulsive scowl, resembling a collapsed 
bagpipe. When we informed him of the warlike 
aspect of affairs in Lower Egypt, and that it was 
possible, on his return to Cairo, he might find Alex- 
andria blockaded by British ships of war, and himself 
a prisoner in the clutches of the viceroy, he raved 
like a mad bull ; cursed Mehemet Ali, damned the 
Turks, and looked vile enough to blow up the fleet 
and the "Great Powers." I have seldom seen a 
worse looking man, in a worse passion; and, the 



NATIVES OF UPPER EGYPT. 551 

wind being favourable, we made that an excuse for 
epitomising the pleasures of a more prolonged meet- 
ing. We left the " half pay officer" in a tornado of 
wrath. 

The natives were actively employed with the pole 
and bucket, raising water to irrigate the thirsty soil. 
They were well-proportioned figures, with large dark 
eyes ; and, without exception, their teeth were regular 
and of ivory whiteness. They were much blacker 
than the fellahs of the Delta, and the women, adorned 
with ornaments, were frequently seen unmasked. 

At Gebel Silsili, the ancient sand-stone quarries, 
the mountains reach quite down to the water's edge. 
In a little ramble through the vast excavations, we 
were surprised at the extent and regularity of the 
openings, and the freshness retained by the smooth 
cuts and chips of the quarry after the lapse of thou- 
sands of years ! Deep avenues were opened in the 
rock from the banks of the river to the bowels of the 
mountain, where the quarries are perpendicularly cut 
down on all sides many hundred leet in depth, re- 
sembling the smooth sides of a well cut hay-mow. 

We clambered up the high banks on the east side 
of the river to look at the fallen temples of Kom 
Ombo, anciently Ombos, whose enlightened citizens 
worshipped the crocodile-headed deity,* and waged a 
desperate conflict with the Tentyrites, on account of 
the contempt of the latter for the gods of the former. 
Many lives were lost, and, as is usual in " holy wars," 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, ii. 36. 



552 



A WOMAN OF UPPER EGYPT. 



much mischief was done, and no converts were made 
on either side. 




A Woman of Upper Egypt. 

The view of these fine old ruins from the water 
is very imposing. They comprise the fragments of 
two temples and a lofty gateway. One wing only of 



ARRIVAL AT THE CATARACTS. 553 

the latter is standing. It was reared upon a terrace 
overhanging the river, and the fallen wing strews 
the bank. The large temple had two entrances, 
and two sanctuaries ; but the latter, and all the inner 
chambers are destroyed, and filled with sand. The 
portico is all that remains preserved. Fifteen of the 
massive columns are quite entire ; they are twenty- 
two feet in circumference. Every part of this temple 
is painted and sculptured. The great doors, crowned 
with the winged globe, and opening into the sacred 
rooms, are choked with rubbish. Ponderous beams, 
shattered architraves, broken columns, and crumbled 
w^alls, lie in confusion amid the drifting sands, which 
will soon wrap them all in oblivion ! 

Another day's fair wind wafted us up to the cata- 
racts. As we were hauhng our little bark against the 
bank, we observed two boats with English flags lying 
a little distance up the stream. At first we supposed 
these, like some twenty others that we had seen with 
the same colours, were tinctured with British frigidity. 
But, as we touched the shore, the glorious banner of 
our own country was seen ascending the shrouds of 
one of them in honour of our arrival ! 



Vol. L — 70 



554 MR. SCANTLETRASH. 

The other boat, a dark, rakish looking craft, was 
the bearer of Peter J. Scantletrash, an EngUsh bache- 
lor, who was polishing himself by foreign travel ; and, 
wuth the notable Paul (made famous in Stephens's 
Incidents of Travel), had thus far ascended the Nile. 
Scantletrash was a little, red peppery individual, with 
a shaved head, roundabout jacket, Turkish shoes, 
drab " inexpressibles," variegated vest, high London 
stock, gold breast-pin, quizzing-glass, and a large 
flower stuck in the button-hole of his coat. His nose 
was of the hawk-bill genus, and his eyes were dim and 
heavy. Unlike most of his countrymen, who pride 
themselves upon etiquette and hauteur, Scantletrash 
dashed eccentrically to the other extreme. He 
thought all matters of form quite useless, and en- 
deavoured to be exceedingly affable. He came on 
board and introduced himself by calling " John Bull 
a demmed hog;" for his part he "saw no necessity 
for the cold forms of an introduction, and thought the 
better way was to throw off all restraint, and present 
one's self without ceremony." 

Although a decided stickler in matters of birth and 
royalty, Scantletrash affected a generous contempt 
for the pretensions put forth by all "her Majesty's 
loyal subjects," who cannot trace their blood une- 
quivocally to a source of legitimate nobility. That 
point satisfactorily settled, Scantletrash, cap in hand, 
hail, snow, rain, thunder, or lightning, come what may^ 
all the same to him — he is ready to bow down and 
do homage to the divinity of the blood royal. But 
to all of doubtful lineage,, he turned up his nose in 



ELEPHANTINE. 555 

contemptuous scorn. He had a great deal to say 
about horses, hounds, hunting season, coal mines, 
and fishing tackle ; and stoutly boasted of his gun 
privileges upon the grounds of certain noblemen 
in the north of England, and his grouse shooting 
upon the Highland heaths. He said : " I and Paul 
get on famously. Paul knows that I can swear as 
hard as he ; and when he gets knocked up with the 
cramp, of which he invariably thinks he is going to 
die, I stand cursing and swearing over him, until he 
gets vexed and goes about his business as well as 
ever !" 

Scantletrash, loquaciously following up his atten- 
tions, obligingly gave himself an invitation to be one 
of our party in an excursion to the island of Elephan- 
tine. We crossed over in a little clam-shell boat, 
navigated by a three-fingered, clotheless patriarch ; 
who, for aught we knew, might have been a ferryman 
in the days of Moses. He certainly was the oldest 
looking man I ever saw ; and unless he gets drowned, 
or comes to some untimely end, he may live in the 
delightful climate of Upper Egypt for many long 
years. 

Elephantine, once adorned with temples, quays, and 
other public edifices,^ presented to us a scene of per- 
fect desolation. The ground was strewed with bro- 
Jken pottery, over which a noisy crowd of naked 
Nubians were poring in quest of bronze images and 
other relics. As soon as we Janded, they gave up 
ibeir " scientific research," and fdll upon us with a 

♦ Wilkinson's Thebes, 464. 



556 



E'SOUAN. 



most clamorous demand for buckshish. They greatly 
annoyed Mr. Scantletrash, who threw stones at them, 
and called lustily for Paul to " come and beat their 
brains out !" That celebrated dragoman, understand- 
ing the natives and his master, gave both a wide berth, 
and kept at a distance that favoured the belief of his 
ignorance of what was going on. Scantletrash soon 
abandoned the charms of the " Flowery Island," and 
went to his dinner and grog. 

We remained to look at the old Roman quay, 
which is still preserved. It stands high above the 
water at low Nile, and is about a hundred feet in 
length. Near the quay, were shght remains of a 
small temple, and a shockingly mutilated colossal 
statue. The temple was dedicated to Kneph, who 
presided over the inundation, and received the adora- 
tion of the Elephantines. It was erected by Amu- 
noph III, 1430 B. C.^ The Nileometer is yet nearly 
entire. This was a strong military depot during the 
Persian, Greek, and Roman domination over Egypt ; 
and it is not improbable that the Pharaohs availed 
themselves of the natural advantage of the position 
for a similar establishment. 

E'Souan is in latitude 24^, 5', 30". It is shaded 
by palm-groves on one side, and looks out upon the 
desert on the other. The ruins of ancient Syene are 
conspicuous a short distance to the south, on an ele- 
vated swell overlooking the cataracts, the island of 
Philae, Elephantine, and the desert. 

In the mountains, a little to the east, are the fa- 

• Wilkinson's Thebes, 461. 



QUARRIES OF SYENE. .557 

mous granite quarries, whence were taken the obe- 
lisks and colossal statues to adorn Thebes, Memphis, 
Heliopolis, and other Egyptian cities. There is an 
unfinished obelisk, partly covered with sand, lying in 
the quarries, which is ninety feet long and ten feet 
square. The appearance of these ancient excava- 
tions is such, as in any other country would indi- 
cate that the work had been but recently suspended, 
though thousands of years may have rolled away 
since the sound of the hammer has ceased to vibrate 
tlirough the vacant and desolate cliffs. The scars 
of the chisel, drill, and wedges are distinctly visible, 
and the chips and scattered scales of rock exhibit all 
the freshness of new wrought quarries. 

We found the bazar of E'Souan crowded with 
ragged, lazy, lousy men, filthy women, and squalid 
children. A sUght examination sufficed ; and when 
we returned to the boat, it was surrounded by a dense 
mass of indelicately attired individuals, endeavouring 
to sell their baskets, knives, spears, ostrich-eggs, old 
coins, bronze images, shells, chickens, shields, cor- 
bashes, sheep, milk, bread, eggs, and dates. It was a 
regular fair ; and Johnny, our old servant, being the 
only purchaser, prices had ranged uncommonly low. 



658 



EXCURSION TO PHIL^E. 




View of the Ruins and Vicinity of Phile. 



CHAPTER XLL 



Excursion to the Island of PhilcB. — Singular Taste of Mr 
Scantletrash. — Temple of Isis, — Tomb of Osiris. — Phi- 
Ice consecrated to their Worship. — JYovel Mode of naviga- 
ting the JYile. — Cataracts. — Apostacy of the Cook. — Se- 
rious Predicament, and overwhelming Effect of Egyptian 
Corn-laws. — Departure from E^Souan. — Temple of Ed- 
foo. — Tomhs of El Kab, 

In an excursion to the island of Philae, we rode 
over the site of Syene. Considerable portions of the 
old walls are yet to be seen ; though they are broken 
down in some places, and in others covered with sand. 
The walls, like the houses, are constructed of sun- 
dried brick. 

Descending from the picturesque site of the ancient 
city, we traversed a vast cemetery, extending far into 
the desert, and profusely strewed with the faded har- 
vest of death. Leaving the cemetery, we entered a 
broad vale, with high granite ledges on either hand, 
through which the ancient Egyptians transported 



MR. SCANTLETRASH. 559 

their obelisks and other ponderous masses of granite 
from the quarries to the Nile. The peculiar features 
of the scenery indicate that the Nile itself may have 
flowed through that avenue, and roared amid the huge 
and craggy rocks jumbled together there in impressive 
confusion. Passing two wretched villages, we were 
again upon the borders of the river. Here we dis- 
missed our cavalry, and were ferried over the river to 
the green-fringed island. 

Mr. Scantletrash, who, with Paul, joined us as we 
were emerging from the palm-groves of E'Souan, 
made commendable exertions to render himself ex- 
cessively entertaining. He was badly mounted, and 
his saddle galled both him and his donkey, between 
whom there appeared to be a community of feeling. 
He related many apocryphal tales of his adventures 
with certain English noblemen ; boasted oi their enor- 
mous revenues, and the liberahty of their expenditures ; 
spoke eloquently of "her Majesty's stag hounds;" in- 
formed us of the quality and quantity of wine he was 
accustomed to take at his dinner ; dilated upon the 
important advantages of being a member of some of 
the " clubs" of London ; dwelt fervently upon " mar- 
riage settlements," " three per cents.," "life annuities," 
« bank shares," " India bonds," and " exchequer bills ;" 
expatiated upon country-seats, hedge-rows, fish-ponds, 
and fashionable tailors ; alluded to high betting, and 
heavy winnings; spoke enthusiastically of government 
patronage, pensions, and church-livings ; admired the 
corn-laws, window-tax, and church-rates ; deprecated 
all reforms ; thought it best to let well alone, and 



560 THE ISLAND OF PHIL^. 

wanted to wring every radical's neck in Christendom, 
These were some of the topics upon which Mr. Scan- 
tletrash discoursed by the way ; and, notwithstanding 
his professed passion for every thing " odd and extra- 
ordinary," we had not been on the beautiful island 
of Philae half an hour, when he " saw nothing to ad- 
mire among the ' nasty rubbish/ and did not care how 
soon he returned to his boat." Nor should we have 
regretted his departure ; but Paul, who was an enthu- 
siastic admirer of the antique, felt scandaUzed at the 
total absence of taste for things of this kind exhibited 
by his master. He had great difficulty in amusing 
him ; but fortunately hit upon the happy expedient 
of recording their names upon the temples. This was 
a pleasing task, upon which Mr. Scantletrash entered 
with a becoming energy. Paul was provided with an 
old chisel and hammer ; and, after several attempts, 
they were enabled to cut their names very well. At 
first, Paul would dig his name into the face of sculp- 
tured walls or painted columns, at some distance apart 
from that of his master ; but they had not been long 
engaged, when he set his name, by way of endorse- 
ment, directly under that of Mr. Scantletrash, with 
the additional word " dragoman" affixed. 

The island of Philse, situated a short distance above 
the cataracts, exhibits one of the most agreeable and 
impressive landscape scenes that I have ever wit- 
nessed. Encircled by the eddying rush of the Nile, 
and overlooked by wild and lofty ledges, its own 
green banks and spreading trees adorn the time-worn 
ruins of its ancient glory. It is nearly surrounded by 



THE TEMPLE OF ISIS. 661 

a high, well-preserved wall, and its desolated temples, 
beautiful even in ruin, declare its former magnificence. 
This was the scene of the sacred and pompous wor- 
ship of Isis and Osiris, " the greatest of all the gods."* 
Divine honours were universally paid to these deities 
throughout Egypt ;t but this spot was particularly 
consecrated to their service. It was esteemed so sa- 
cred, that " no one was permitted to visit the holy 
island without express permission."t Here were 
celebrated " the great mysteries ;" and at an appoint- 
ed time, the tomb of Osiris was visited by the priests 
in solemn procession, and crowned with flowers.§ 
Diodorus says, none but priests were allowed to visit 
the island.|| The sepulchre of Osiris, says the same 
author, " was religiously reverenced by all the priests 
of Egypt. Osiris was worshipped at Philse under the 
figure of the Ethiopian hawk."l[ " Isis was represent- 
ed in her statues under the form of a woman with 
horns.** Her festivals were magnificent, and cele- 
brated with all the pomp which religion and supersti- 
tion could invent."tt 

The temple of Isis, supposed to occupy the site of 
one destroyed by the Persians, is the largest and most 
splendid ruin on the island. " It was commenced," 
says Wilkinson, "by Ptolemy Philadelphus and Ar- 
sinoe."J{ The principal entrance is through an ob- 
long area two hundred and forty feet in length, hav- 

♦ Herod, ii. 40, 86. f Ibid. ii. 42. 

% Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, i. 345. § Ibid. i. 345. 

II Diod. i. 28. IT Herod, ii. 66 : note. 

** Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, i. 381. ft Il>id.i. 385. 

it Wilkinson's Thebes, 466. 

Vol. I — 71 



562 THE TEMPLE OF ISIS. 

ing colonnades on either side, supported by forty-six 
columns in front and a dead wall in the rear, with a 
handsome entablature. The first propylon, in the 
form of two pyramidal towers, rises from a base of 
one himdred and twenty-five feet by thirty, to the 
height of seventy feet, and is adorned with colossal 
figures. The principal portal, ornamented with sculp- 
tured hieroglyphics, opens upon a grand court with 
side corridors, and terminates with a propylon, cor- 
responding in size to that already described, though 
more profusely decorated. 

Here the French army recorded the event of their 
arrival at the cataracts. The names of the com- 
manders are particularized, — an excusable piece of 
vanity, considering the circumstances ; but the ten 
thousand other names that, like blots, disfigure these 
noble ruins, as well as almost all others in the old 
world, " are damned to everlasting fame." 

Passing the second propylon, we entered a beauti- 
ful portico, remarkable for its light and elegant ap^ 
pearance. The columns were surmounted with va- 
ried and flowing capitals. Carved hieroglyphs, and 
deified figures, painted in colours of surpassing fresh- 
ness, adorned this and every part of the rooms of the 
temple. Traversing four elaborately adorned rooms, 
we entered a fifth, w^hich was still more beautiful. 
This was the sanctuary of the temple. On all sides^ 
the mysterious characters of the Egyptians were pro- 
fusely spread, and mingled with the symbolical figures 
of their idolatrous worship. These were invariably 



THE TOMB OF OSIRIS. 563 

painted ; and the colours, though laid thousands of 
years ago, still retain a vivid brightness and beauty. 

In the sculptures of a small retired chamber, lying 
nearly over the western adytum, " the mysterious his- 
tory of Osiris is curiously illustrated .... His passage 
from this life to a future state is indicated by the usu- 
al attendance of the deities and genii, who presided 
over the funeral rites of ordinary mortals."* 

On the walls of a chapel on the left of the grand 
court, the figure of a hawk is conspicuously sculp- 
tured ; having on the right the figures in outline of a 
man and woman kneeling at the foot of a pole, upon 
which a serpent entwines his hideous length, and 
looks down from the summit upon the prostrate forms 
beneath. On the left, another figure of the serpent 
is seen ascending a similar elevation. 

It were vain to attempt a description of the cham- 
bers, corridors, passage-ways, subterraneous and other 
apartments, and the varied and peculiar embellish- 
ment of this magnificent erection, which is nearly 
four hundred and forty feet in length, and more than 
a hundred in width. 

On the eastern side of the island, reared upon a 
broad terrace, substantially supported by a massive 
wall, stands the tomb of Osiris. This is adorned 
with chastely-wrought columns. 

Ruins of different dates and descriptions are 
strewed in all directions, and are encumbered with 
the dunghills and rubbish of the Arabs. 

After lunching in the temple of Isis, we embarked 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, Second Series, i. 189. 



564 ANTICIPATIONS OF DINNER. 

on board an old boat, navigated by two aged men, 
and descended the river. Two Nubian lads, ten or 
twelve years of age, who had followed us all day, 
stripping off their rags and fastening them upon their 
heads, embarked upon a small log, and descended the 
stream with us. They sat upon the stick, which was 
about six feet in length and six or seven inches in di- 
ameter ; and, extending their feet in front, with their 
legs close to the log, they used their hands for oars, 
and easily kept up with the boat, shouting all the way 
for huckskish. Quitting their log at the landing, they 
ran down the borders of the stream, and, with some 
twenty of their countrymen, who were awaiting our 
amval, leaped into the Nile, and came dancing down 
the most rapid part of the catracts ! The scene was 
animated, and will serve to illustrate in some degree 
the force and danger of these rapids. The cataracts 
present an agreeable picture ; but it is only by mere 
courtesy that the stiff current, which rushes around 
the rocky isles in this place, is called a cataract. We 
saw a boat ascending, while we were there, with the 
aid of sails alone ! 

Fatigue and excitement had stirred up within us a 
gnaioing propensity. We began to draw largely in 
anticipation upon the deliciousness of the dinner 
which " Johnny" was to prepare against our return. 

Johnny was an Egyptian, a son of t\\Q faithful, and, 
up to this memorable day, so far as we knew, he had 
conducted himself like ^ faithful son. He had served 
in an English kitchen, and was with Wellington in 
the Peninsular War. Johnny had conducted himself 



APOSTACY OF THE COOK. 565 

SO well in the upward voyage, that we thought him, 
what is rarely to be found, an honest, faithful, sober 
Egyptian. This day we had reckoned largely upon 
his abilities, and we looked with pleasing anticipations 
to the result of his culinary art, as well as to the tidy 
manner in which every thing was to be arranged for 
our descent of the Nile. Cheered by agreeable re- 
flections, we hastened onward through the heat and 
dust ; but imagine our surprise on drawing near the 
boat, to find it surrounded by half the inhabitants of 
E'Souan, shouting in wild uproar. 

Johnny, instead of getting our dinner, had got 
drunk ! He was stupidly reeling about the deck, en- 
deavouring to close a bargain for a Nubian girl's neck- 
lace. She was bawling at the top of her voice, en- 
circled by some twenty of her companions, who were 
equally clamorous in their efforts to sell their trin- 
kets. Johnny was greatly perplexed ; the competi- 
tion was too ardent for the unsettled state of his 
mind. At last, deeming himself insulted by some of 
the men, he staggered out with cHnched fists, struck 
a convulsive blow upon the vacant wind, and pitched 
down into the sand. Alas ! poor Johnny. He was 
picked up by the sailors, and stowed away in a state 
of insensibility. 

We were now made acquainted with the wretched 
condition of our affairs. The rais had the key to 
our stores ; one of the sailors had been arrested, and 
most of the others were revelling about town. John- 
ny, by way of augmenting our supplies, had purchased 
a little black lamb, so thin and sickly that it could 



566 A SERIOUS PREDICAMENT. 

scarcely stand alone. It braced itself against the side 
of the boat, and was bleating, as with its last breath, 
to be set on shore. Every thing on board was in con- 
fusion ; and the two dollars' worth of bread which 
Johnny had purchased, being brought on board, add- 
ed to our embarrassment. Basket full after basket full 
came tumbling in upon us until we were literally over- 
whelmed with the loaves. We told the baker to 
bring no more ; else, for aught I know, they would 
have sunk our boat with " the staff of life." This 
we attributed to the ruinous effect of the " corn laws" 
of the " blood-thirsty old Pacha." But w^e had no 
time to waste upon the ruler of Egypt ; the donkey- 
boys set up a deafening shout for their wages ; a thou- 
sand voices rang through our ears from those desirous 
to dispose of their javelins, spears, knives, shields, and 
baskets ; the women, not a whit behind the men in 
their vociferations, were ardent in their efforts to 
strike a bargain, though they had little to dispose of 
except the scanty rags upon their backs. The " cap- 
tain of the port," a sombre-looking functionary of the 
government, observing our perplexity, obligingly came 
forward, and sw^ept his spear around, scattering the 
crowd right and left, like the assets of the Bank of 
the United States. We had scarcely liquidated his 
demand of twenty paras (about two and a half cents) 
for this " official act," when our tormentors returned 
again, as dense, dirty, and noisy as ever. 

The wind blew up stream, and we wanted to go 
down ; one man was wrested from us, and most of 
the others were missing ; the very dense reigned with- 



DEPARTURE FROM E'SOUAN. 567 

in and without ; and a more hungry, unhappy party 
has rarely taken leave of the cataracts, than ours, 
when we swung the boat into the stream. We float- 
ed down for some time in all the disorder of a wreck ; 
and we were not a mile from E'Souan when we stuck 
fast in a sand-bar ! After much talking and lifting, 
we were again afloat ; and began to clear away the 
bread and other things, which had been tumbled on 
board during the day. This done, we mustered 
strength and culinary skill sufficient to get a cup of 
tea, and retired. 

It was not long, however, before we were aroused 
by the boat's being run against the bank, and by the 
din of female voices. We were informed that the sai- 
lor, reputed to have been arrested, was in a house near 

by, under guard. Mr. J went out to the village, 

found the man under keepers, and was requested to 
pay thirty piasters for his release ; but Mr. J , sus- 
pecting the whole affair to be a ruse to extort this 
pitiful sum from us, forcibly took the soi-disant pris- 
oner from the hands of the authorities, and marched 
him on board the boat. 

The next morning, as the sun rose upon the unruf- 
fled bosom of the Nile, we were gliding past the no- 
ble and impressive ruins of Kom Ombos. Johnny 
was up with the peep of day, and went about his 
business ; but he looked sad, and was never the same 
servant afterward. Another day, and we were at 
Edfoo, the ancient ApollinopoUs Magna. It is on 
the Libyan side, about a mile from the Nile, and con- 
tains three thousand Arabs, who, for filth and vermin. 



568 TEMPLE OF EDFOO. 

may successfully vie with the wretched inhabitants 
of any part of Egypt. 

Entering the village, we passed a crowd of wailing 
women, with dishevelled hair, grouped round the door 
of a man who had just died. As we drew near, the 
vehemence of their music and mourning wondrously 
increased ; but when we passed by, they threw off the 
bitterness of their grief, abandoned their instruments 
and tears, and set up a clamorous demand for buck- 
shish! 

The temple of Edfoo, though half enveloped in 
filth, is an imposing structure. The entrance is 
through a magnificent gateway two hundred feet long, 
thirty feet thick, and one hundred in height. It was 
constructed of sand-stone from the quarries of Gebel 
Silsili, and is adorned on all sides with sculpture. 
This gateway opens upon an area two hundred feet 
in length and a hundred and twenty-five in width ; a 
sculptured corridor extends along the sides, supported 
by a massive wall, which is continued round the tem- 
ple. Traversing the court, now converted into a 
granary of the Pacha, we approached the portico, 
which is a hundred and eight teet by forty, and sup- 
ported by columns twenty feet in circumference. 
These are crowned with sculptured capitals thirty- 
seven feet in circumference. Every part of the tem- 
ple and corridor was covered with hieroglyphics and 
deified figures. The great door being choked up 
with rubbish, we could only enter through a small 
aperture in the roof We found quite a village on 
top of the temple : Arabs, goats, sheep, calves, hens, 



TEMPLE OF EDFOO. 



569 




Vol. 1. — 72 



570 TOMBS OF EL KAB. 

dogs, and dirt were there mingled in rank confu- 
sion. 

We entered one of the rookeries, and descended 
with lighted torches, by a small dark hole, into the 
rooms of the temple. Crawling upon our hands and 
knees from one apartment to another, we found the 
interior filled with dirt almost to the ceiling. Every 
part was covered with hieroglyphics, which were fresh 
and unimpaired. The Arabs rushed in after us till 
there was scarcely room to move round ; the air was 
close, and the dust intolerable. When we drew our- 
selves out of this dust-hole, we Were half suffocated. 

After examining the more imperfect ruins of anoth- 
er small temple, we returned to the boat, and dropped 
down the river to El Kab, anciently Eilethyas. The 
walls of this city, four miles in circuit, were con- 
structed with the mud of the Nile. They are about 
thirty feet thick at the base, thirty in height, and well 
preserved. The ruins of the ancient city afforded 
us little amusement. Ascending the mountain, how- 
ever, we found its sides perforated with tombs. They 
have all been violated, and have suffered much from 
the " scientific research" or Vandalism of European 
antiquarians. We penetrated one to the distance of 
fifty feet. It was hewn in the rock, twelve feet in 
width, and the same in height. The paintings on the 
walls exhibit a variety of domestic and agricultural 
scenes. On one side, a lady and gentleman entertain 
a party of friends : musicians are introduced to en- 
liven the scene. On the opposite wall, various im- 
plements of husbandry are represented. Many of 



ARRIVAL AT ESNEH. 



671 



these are similar to those seen in the hands of the 
Egyptians at the present day. Scribes are taking ac- 
count of the flocks and herds. The wine-press is 
also represented, together with fishing and fowling 
scenes, ploughing, sowing, reaping, treading out, win- 
nowing, measuring, and housing the grain. Other 
tombs are similarly decorated, and similarly despoiled 
and disfigured by the charcoal and chiselled names 
of visiters. 

Leaving the plains of El Kab, we resumed our 
boat, and the next morning were at Esneh, where we 
touched for a slight reinspection of the temple, and 
then continued on to Thebes.' 




A Woman embracing and weeping befoee her Husband's Mummy. 



572 TEMPLE OF REMESES. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

Palace-Temple of Remeses the Great. — His Conquests and 
Progeny. — Statue of Remeses the Great. — Vocal Memnon. 
— Shrine of Latona at Butos. — Ruined Temples of Me- 
deenet Hdhoo, 

We landed on the western bank of the river, and 
rode across the plain to the " Memnonium." This 
was the palace-temple of " Remeses the Great," or 
" Sesostris," a Pharaoh who had a long and prosper- 
ous reign in what is called the "Augustan age of 
Egypt." Ascending the throne 1355 years B. C.,* 
he triumphantly carried his arms through Asia, and 
passed into Europe.f Diodorus represents his con- 
quests as being more extensive than those of Alexan- 
der. He says : " Sesostris not only invaded those na- 
tions which the Macedonian afterward subdued, but 
likewise those he never set foot upon. He passed the 
river Ganges, and pierced through all India to the 
Main Ocean."t Loaded with the spoils of his ene- 
mies, he returned to Egypt, fired with an ambitious 
desire " to leave behind him eternal monuments of his 
memory." § This temple is one of those monuments ; 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 48. f Herod, ii. 102-110. 

t Diod. i. 59. § Ibid. i. 60. 



TEMPLE OF REMESES. 573 

" which " says Wilkinson, " for symmetry of architec- 
ture, and elegance of sculpture, can vie with any 
other monument of Egyptian art."* The names and 
figures of his " twenty-three sons and three daugh- 
ters are introduced in the Memnonium."t 

The entrance to this splendid edifice was through 
a propylon, constructed of stone, two hundred and 
twelve feet in length, thirty in width, and rising in the 
form of two pyramidal towers to the height of eighty 
feet. This is now in ruins ; though the battle-scenes 
of Sesostris, sculptured on the west side, are in part 
preserved. In the first court, which is two hundred 
and twelve feet by one hundred, are the broken frag- 
ments of the statue of Remeses the Great. This 
statue was sculptured from an entire piece of granite, 
taken from the quarries of Syene, one hundred and 
thirty-eight miles from Thebes, and weighed eight 
hundred and eighty-nine tons !J It measured from 
the shoulder to the elbow twelve feet ten inches ; 
twenty-two feet four inches across the shoulders, and 
fourteen feet four inches from the neck to the elbow. 
Its foot was eleven feet in length, and four feet ten 
inches in breadth. § It sat upon a pedestal formed of a 
single block of granite twenty-nine feet long, seven- 
teen wide, and it is now nine feet above the accumu- 
lated rubbish. The desolating hand of invasion threw 
down this mighty column and shivered it in ruins ! 

The second court was a hundred and seventy feet 
by a hundred and forty, and adorned on all sides with 

* Wilkinson's Thebes, 10. f Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 72. 
} Ibid. iii. 330. § Wilkinson's Thebes, 10 : note. 



574 TEMPLE OF REMESES. 

columns and " Osiride pillars ;" — eight of the latter, 
with folded arms, are holding in their hands the sa- 
cred emblems of Egyptian worship. 

Three flights of steps conduct from the court to a 
corridor of ten massive columns, where stood two 
other statues of Sesostris. Three entrances open 
into the grand hall, whose roof, composed of massive 
blocks of sand-stone, was sustained by forty-eight col- 
umns, all beautified with elaborately-wrought capitals; 
which, together with the ceiHng and doorways, were 
covered with hieroglyphs. This hall was about a hun- 
dred and thirty-three by one hundred feet, and was 
succeeded by several other chambers, which are near- 
ly all destroyed. The remains of this sumptuous and 
imposing structure are strewed over an elevated site, 
looking off upon the plains of Thebes and the Ara- 
bian mountains. In the rear, are the tomb-perforated 
hills of Libya ; on the right, are the ruins of the tem- 
ple of Medeenet Haboo ; on the left, those of Gour- 
noo ; while those of the palace-temple of Luqsor are 
on the opposite side of the river, bearing a little to 
the south, with the incomparable ruins of Karnak di- 
rectly in front. Thus the principal temples of Thebes, 
though far apart, were distinctly in view of each other ; 
and the shattered sphinxes, that are seen obtruding 
above the deposites of the Nile, indicate that in Thebes' 
proud and palmy days, broad avenues, lined with im- 
posing statues, extended from one to the other of 
these magnificent temples throughout their entire cir- 
cuit. Were this the case, no one can doubt the im- 
pressive efiect of the reUgious ceremonial — when, in 



COLOSSAL STATUES. 575 

solemn processions, the numerous priesthood were 
moving from temple to temple, in all the glitter of 
their sacred robes, accompanied by music, banners, 
and every imaginable device that could lend brilliancy 
to the scene or awe to the spectacle ! 

However this may have been, all is silent now, and 
sad ; and little remains to declare the ancient glory 
of Thebes, except the ruined temples and violated 
tombs, and a few colossal statues that seem to mourn 
over the desolation of the city they were reared to 
adorn. Two of these, bruised and broken by the 
hand of man, and defiled by the birds of the air, sit 
lonely in the cultivated plains. These are the statues 
of Amunoph III, and were part of a double line of 
colossi that adorned the dromos conducting to a tem- 
ple erected by that monarch, who reigned 1430 B. C* 

These statues are forty-seven feet in height, a little 
more than eighteen feet across the shoulders, sixteen 
feet and a half from the shoulder to the elbow, ten 
feet and a half from the crown of the head to the 
shoulder, about eighteen feet from the elbow to the 
tip of the fingers, nearly twenty feet from the top of 
the knee to the sole of the foot, and ten feet and a 
half from the heel to the extremity of the toes ! Each 
sits upon a sand-stone pedestal thirty-two feet long, 
eighteen wide, and twelve or thirteen feet thick, ma- 
king their total altitude about sixty feet ! They were 
constructed of entire blocks of coarse grit-stone, a 
material not known within several days' journey of 
Thebes ;t and each contained eleven thousand five 

♦ Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 47. ; Second Series do. i. 109. 
t Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, iii. 329 ; and Ms Thebes, 34, 



576 



THE VOCAL MEMNON. 



hundred cubic feet. These, and the broken statue 
at the Memnonium, are some of the ponderous blocks 
of stone which the Egyptians transported from one 
extremity of the country to the other ; and, though 
immense, they are by no means the largest which 
they were accustomed to handle — for at Butos, near 
the Sebennitic mouth of the Nile, the shrine of the 
goddess Latona, formed of one solid stone of equal 
height, breadth, and thickness, measured on each side 
sixty feet !^ This, " supposing the walls to have been 
only six feet thick, must have weighed upward of five 
thousand tons !"t How such stupendous masses of 
granite were safely conveyed over a space of many 
hundred miles, is a question that may perplex, in its 
solution, the most daring engineers of " this enlight- 
ened age '" 




■-t^v^^-- 



Tme two Colossi on the Plain of Thebes, with the Ruins of Ltjqsor 

IN THE DISTANCE, DURING THE INUNDATION. ThE StATUE ON THE 
LEFT IS THE VoCAL MeMNON. 

One of the sitting colossi in the plain of Thebes 
is the reputed " Vocal Memnony It was broken off 

• Herod, ii. 155. f Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, iii. 331. 



RUINS OF TEMPLES. 577 

near the middle by the shock of an earthquake, and 
was restored by horizontal layers of sand-stone. Its 
feet and legs are thickly engraved with the records 
of its vocal powers ; and great names of Greece and 
Rome bear testimony to its audible greetings. Mem- 
non, however, is no longer but a mock of his former 
self ! His voice is mute, his eyes are dimmed, and all 
the fore part of the head has disappeared at the Van- 
dal touch of man ] Yet no one can look upon this 
mangled image, untouched with pity at its ruin, or un- 
moved with sorrow for the fate of its founder, whose 
death-slumbers have been violated, and his powdered 
dust scattered to the winds of heaven ! 

Passing the fallen fragments of several other colossi, 
and the remains of the demolished temple in the rear, 
we continued on until we came to the ruins of Me- 
deenet Haboo. Here, half entombed by the rude huts 
of modern erection, is the sublime wreck of temples 
and palaces that once vied in splendour with any 
other in Egypt. Here was one of the four temples 
of Thebes, which, we are assured by Diodorus, were 
" greatly to be admired for grandeur and beauty."* 
One of the other three is the temple of Luqsor, facing 
this, on the opposite side of the river. The others are 
the temple of Karnak and the Memnonium.f I shall 
forbear any attempt at a detailed description of these 
ruined piles ; a task which it is not easy to accomplish. 

The great palace-temple} of Remeses HI., who 
reigned 1235 years B. C.,§ is the most conspicuous 

* Diod. i. 52. f Wilkinson^s Thebes, 41. 

i Ibid. 50. § Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, L 76. 

Vol. L — 73 



578 PAVILION OF REMESES. 

among the ruins of Medeenet Haboo, and the most 
elaborately embellished. Two lodges flank the sides 
of the spacious entrance conducting to the pavilion 




Pavilion of Remeses III. at Medeenet Haboo. 

of the King. Several of the royal chambers yet 
remain in a state of tolerable preservation, and are 
adorned with representations of the scenes of the 
private life of the Pharaoh. Passing from the pavil- 
ion over the dromos of two hundred and sixty-five 
feet, the first court of the temple, a hundred and thir- 
ty-five feet by one hundred, with massive colonnades 
on either side, is entered by a lofty pyramidal gate- 
way, two hundred feet long, and twenty-nine thick. 
At the opposite end of the court, another gateway, 
of similar form and size, rises to a corresponding 
height. Both sides of each of the propylons, and 
every part of the colonnades, are adorned with his- 
torical delineations, deeply sculptured and vividly col- 
oured. The second court is even more splendid and 
spacious than the first, and the doorway of red gran- 



TEMPLES OF MEDEENET HABOO. 579 

ite, through which it is entered, is truly superb. The 
hieroglyphics on its sides are engraved to the depth 
of two or three inches. The height of this court, 
" from the pavement to the cornice, is thirty-nine feet. 
It is surrounded by an interior peristyle, whose east 
and west sides are supported by five massive columns, 
the south by a row of Osiride pillars, and the north 
by a similar number, behind which is an elegant cor- 
ridor of circular columns, whose effect is unequalled 
by any other in Thebes.""^ The circular columns, 
though only twenty-four feet high, are nearly twenty- 
three feet in circumference ; which, with their crown- 
ing capitals, the bold and massive entablature, the pon- 
derous beams and ceiling of the corridor, and the 
close wall of the court, were all embeUished with hie- 
roglyphical sculpture. 

The painting, too, was profuse in all directions ; 
and, in many parts, preserved with astonishing fresh- 
ness. The hand of mutilation has wantonly touched 
the adornments of this splendid court; and the Chris- 
tians, who, previous to the Saracen conquest, erected 
a place of worship here, covered the sculptures with 
stucco. This, however, instead of destroying, was 
the means of preserving the interesting dehneations 
upon this part of the building ; and many striking 
battle-scenes and ceremonial groups are still exhibited 
in pristine spirit and beauty. 

Wilkinson says : " If the sculptures of the areas 
arrest the attention of the antiquary or excite the ad- 
miration of the traveller, those of the exterior of this 

* Wilkinson's Thebes, 60. 



580 



OFFERINGS TO THE DEAD. 



building are no less interesting in an historical point 
of view."* 

The main body of this temple, together with the 
rooms of one of scarcely less dimensions, a little fur- 
ther to the north, is filled up with the huts and rub- 
bish of the Copts, who, in the days of the empire, 
resided here in considerable numbers. 

* Wilkinson's Thebes, 68. 




Offerings to the Dead in Presence of the Family of the Deceasep. 



TOMBS OF THE KINGS. 581 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

Excursion to the " Tombs of the Kings." — Annoyance of the 
Relic-venders. — Indefatigable Arab and his Jar. — Tomh 
of Osirei, violated and robbed by Belzoni. — Belzoni's Diu' 
ner to his English Friends in the Grave of Pharaoh. — 
Tomb of the Harper. — The oldest Tomb of the Kings. — 
Temple of Gournoo. — Moonlight View of Karnak. 

I WILL not detain the reader with an account of 
our long rambles among the sepulchres of the vast 
Necropolis of Thebes, and our explorations of their 
deep, dark, devious, and violated chambers ; the dust 
and mangled remains of whose sacred deposites strew 
the rocky sides of the mountain, while the gorgeous 
tombs from whence they have been sacrilegiously 
thrust, are now the polluted abodes of the wretched 
Arabs of Thebes. I will only crave indulgence for 
some account of a single day's excursion among the 
incomparable " Tombs of the Kings," and will then 
resume our descent of the Nile. 

At the dawn of day, we were aroused by a multi- 
tude of the natives, crowding along the banks, with 
horses, donkeys, and the relics of the tombs. We put 
ourselves under the direction of an Egyptian guide, 
and went on shore. Here we were so hemmed in 



582 



ANNOYANCE OF RELIC- VENDERS. 



on all sides by the resurrectionists, that it was almost 
impossible to advance a single step. In addition to 
all sorts of mummies and minute fragments of each, 
from the head of a king to the tail of a cat, there 
was a great variety of images, rings, beads, buckles, 
and bandages on sale ; and a robber-visaged, clothe- 
less Arab assailed me with an old jar, which he said 
I 7nmt purchase. I did not fancy it, and declined 
this preference, although I had little doubt of his as- 
sertion that " it was taken from one of the oldest 
tombs in Thebes." 

In order to clear our skirts of these relic-venders, 
we bought a quantity of their commodities, ere the 
thought came into our minds that we were six thou- 
sand miles from home, and that it was a hundred 
chances to one that not an article of them all would 
ever reach the United States. This, however, would 
have been of little consequence, had the object in 
view been attained, for the whole cost only a mere 
trifle. But our situation became little less alarming 
than that of the fox in the fable ; for we had no soon- 
er bought one man's stock, than a hundred more 
rushed before us, more imperious and importunate 
than the last, to dispose of theirs. I had purchased 
the -mummy of a hawk ; Mr. J. had that of a sacred 
serpent; and my friend the doctor was importuned to 
purchase those of a cat and a buzzard ; — and here 
again, furiously pressing forward, and filling the air 
with the deafening tones of his cracked voice, was 
the fiend-like object with his jar ! It mattered little 
that I had told him a dozen times I would not pur- 



THE ARAB AND HIS JAR. 583 

chase it ; — he said no one else would buy it, and I 
must ! 

Rudely pressed on all sides, we could neither move 
forward nor backward, nor indeed could we stand 
where we were, for the crowd was momentarily in- 
creasing in confusion and density. To linger in in- 
decision, was to subject ourselves to greater annoy- 
ance ; we therefore plied our canes and whips right 
and left, until we cleared our way to the muleteers. 
Here, again, we had difficulty. In their eagerness to 
serve us, the muleteers rushed up wdth their animals, 
and had well nigh trampled us under foot before we 
had time to select such of their quadrupeds as we de- 
sired. As I was taking my seat in the old Turkish 
saddle, who should again accost me but the indefati- 
gable owner of the jar ? If I answered his impor- 
tunity with a cut of my whip, he only vanished from 
one side of my horse to reappear immediately upon 
the other, just as smiling and eager as ever to dispose 
of his jar, which he again assured me I ?nust pur- 
chase ! Fairly mounted, I put spurs to my horse, 
and left him and his companions to press their solici- 
tations upon Mr. Scantletrash and Paul, who had just 
arrived. 

Passing over the plain, we entered a winding gorge 
among the Libyan hills, and traversed the dry bed 
of a mountain-torrent. Mingled with vast quantities 
of curious flint-stone, we saw various petrified shells 
in considerable abundance. On either hand the rocky 
cliffs hung high and loosely over us ; the way was as 
lonely and silent as the grave. No spot, perhaps, 



584 A SCENE AMID THE TOMBS. 

could be more appropriate for the quiet repose of man, 
when the active and busy scenes of Hfe are over, and 
the sorrows and trials of this existence are exchanged 
for the long, silent slumbers of the tomb. Here no in- 
trusive footstep trampled, no noise resounded through 
the sun-scorched vale, save the funeral dirge, and the 
mournful processions bearing the mummied bodies of 
the mighty dead, with pompous ceremonial, to their 
last abode ! Even novv, little breaks upon the noise- 
less scene, except here and there the stranger's step, 
winding upward to the magnificent chambers of the 
dead, there to admire the splendour of the vacant 
tombs, — and, generally, to add fresh ravages to these 
despoiled and desecrated sanctuaries ! Alas ! how 
hard and heavily has the hand of the living pressed 
upon the bones and shelter of the dead ! 

Lingering slowly behind my companions, I mused 
pensively over this strange scene ; the brevity of man's 
existence ; the solemn sleep of death ; the joys of 
heaven; the brightness of the Christian's hope ; the 
beauty of his religion contrasted with the dim per- 
ception of Egypt's Pharaohs, who dwelt in golden 
palaces through life, and at last lay down in sepul- 
chres of living rock, deep in the mountain's bosom, 
vainly anticipating an undisturbed repose till their de- 
parted spirits should again return to reanimate their 
faded, fallen clay ! How different the sequel ! Like 
an unclean thing, the dust of Egypt's kings has been 
cast out and scattered to the winds ; their violated 
tombs despoiled of their glory ; and their shrouds and 
coffins conveyed to the extremities of the earth ! 



THE ARAB AND HIS JAR. 585 

I was meditating upon these things, when I heard 
approaching footsteps. Imagine my surprise on look- 
ing round, to encounter an Arab, with a sepulchral 
figure and face, brandishing the mummied head of a 
man just from the tomb ! He thrust it in my face, 
and clamorously desired me to purchase it. The 
teeth, exhibiting death's ghastly grin, were still firm 
in their sockets ; the skin, dry and shrunken, was 
closely drawn over the bones and muscles of the face ; 
the hair hung in matted clusters over the brow ; one 
ear was smitten off, and the eyes were veiled in eter- 
nal darkness ! The unexpected manner in which 
this relic of the tombs had obtruded upon my path, 
occasioned an involuntary shudder. I turned, half 
affrighted, from the disgusting spectacle ; and who 
should haunt my vision then but the imperturbable 
Egyptian with the old jar ! In the distance, I saw 
a crowd of his tomb-relic companions rapidly advan- 
cing. Flight, under such circumstances, appearing 
the better part of valour, I applied the broad shovel- 
stirrups to the horse's flanks, and left my besiegers to 
meditate new modes of attack. 

On joining my friends, we rode leisurely on, gath- 
ering here and there a curious stone or a petrifaction, 
until we approached the abrupt and lofty barrier of 
limestone rock rising in front and on either side, de- 
claring — " Thus far and no farther." We were now 
at the doors of th€ " Tombs of the Kings," which are 
excavated in the living rock, and extend, in various 
directions, far into the bosom of the mountains. 

Furnished with blazing torches, we entered " the 

Vol. L — 74 



586 



TOMB OF OSIREI. 



tomb which, of all others, stands pre-eminently con- 
spicuous as well for the beaiity of its sculpture, as the 
state of its preservation."* It was discovered, vio- 
lated, and robbed by' Belzoni ; and it has been de- 
spoiled by succeeding visiters, until nearly the whole 
palace-hke sepulchre presents a picture of lamentable 
dilapidation. 

This was the tomb of Osirei I.,f father of " Reme- 
ses the Great," who ascended the throne 1385 B. C. 
He extended the glory and dominion of Egypt by 
foreign conquest, and adorned her cities with mag- 
nificent edifices and sumptuous works of art.J He 
was the twelfth Pharaoh, in a direct line, from the 
" king who knew not Joseph," and reigned about two 
centuries after the birth of Moses.§ 

The entrance to his tomb is by an ample flight of 
stairs, conducting down through the solid rock to a 
depth of twenty-four feet. From the foot of the stairs, 
a passage, nineteen feet by eight, leads to a second 
staircase, similar to the first ; and from these, a pas- 
sage twenty -nine feet in length conducts to a cham- 
ber, twelve feet by fourteen. This room is adorned 
with representations of the offerings of Osirei, and 
opens into a second chamber, tw^enty-seven feet 
square, whose roof is supported by four square pillars, 
which have painted in vivid hues upon their sides the 
reception of the king by the deities after his death. 
This apartment is otherwise ornamented by various 
representations in a style of great elegance and sur- 

* Wilkinson's Thebes, 101. f Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 48-62. 
t Ibid. 62, 63. § Ibid. 47, 48. 



VIOLATION BY BELZONI. 587 

prising freshness of colour. Descending a few steps, 
we entered another apartment of similar dimensions, 
supported by pillars in the centre. The ornamental 
figures of this room are apparently fresh from the 
hand of the draftsman, and untouched by the sculp- 
tor. They are, however, exceedingly interesting, and 
exhibit the taste and skill of an artist of high attain- 
ments. Descending another staircase, we entered a 
broad and beautiful passage-way, embelhshed with 
the funeral ceremonial of the deceased. This pas- 
sage terminated by a few steps, which landed upon 
another corridor of equal extent, but surpassing the 
former in ornamental beauty. A vividly -painted 
room, seventeen feet by fourteen, succeeds, and com- 
municates by a door through its inner wall with the 
grand hall, which is about twenty-seven feet square. 
The ceiling of this room is supported by two rows 
of pillars. Its walls are profusely spread with hiero- 
glyphical sculpture, which, reflected by the glare of 
our torches, presented a scene of inconceivable bril- 
liancy. Two lateral chambers, eight feet by ten, 
opened on either side, which are no less profuse in 
hieroglyphical adornment than the other apartments. 
The grand hall terminates in the saloon of the sar- 
cophagus, a lofty and beautiful apartment, about thir- 
ty feet by twenty, with a vaulted roof, and decorated 
in a style of elegance worthy the conspicuous posi- 
tion it occupies. Here was once an alabaster sarco- 
phagus of curious workmanship, which contained the 
mummy of the king. This was abstracted by Bel- 
zoni, who sold it to an English lord. Here, too, the 



588 BELZONFS DINNER TO HIS FRIENDS. 

*' scientific" violator of the dead gave a dinner to his 
English friends ; and the grave of Pharaoh loudly re- 
sounded vs^ith the bacchanalian shouts of its plun- 
derers ! 

On the right of the saloon of the sarcophagus is a 
small room in an unfinished state ; and still deeper in 
the rock, there is a plain apartment, forty feel by eigh- 
teen, supported by four square pillars. On the left, 
there is another chamber, about twenty-three feet 
square, which is highly ornamented with hieroglyphi- 
cal sculpture, and brilliantly painted. 

The horizontal extent of this tomb is three hun- 
dred and twenty feet, and it is nearly a hundred feet 
in depth !* When Belzoni opened it, there was an 
inclined plane starting from the centre of the hall of 
the sarcophagus, with a staircase on either side, pene- 
trating the rock to the distance of a hundred and fifty 
feet further, making the entire length of this catacomb 
four hundred and seventy feet ! The inclined pas- 
sage is now entirely closed, and the tomb throughout 
exhibits the wanton Vandalism of man in its most 
reprehensible light. 

As we emerged from this splendid work of Egyp- 
tian art, we were beset by a host of dusky resurrec- 
tionists, clamorously thrusting upon us their filched 
fragments of the dead. Heads, arms, legs, hair, teeth, 
grave-clothes, beads, and rings were comprised in this 
collection ; and the first article that met my eye was 
the old jar ! 

Our guides dashed among them, and cleared our 

♦ Wilkinson's Thebes, 105. 



TOMB OF THE HARPER. 589 

way to the next tomb, which, though less gorgeously 
adorned, was in some respects still more impressive 
than the last. It extends into the rock by a gently 
inclined plane about three hundred and fifty feet. 
The passage-way, twelve feet in height, and adorned 
throughout with painted sculpture, conducts to the 
hall of the sarcophagus, whose vaulted roof is sup- 
ported by massive columns. Here, thrown in broken 
fragments upon the floor, was the ruined coffin of the 
king ! This chamber is about forty feet by thirty ; 
and, together with the apartments opening in differ- 
ent directions, were all embelhshed with the sculp- 
tured and painted representations of the religious 
rites, ceremonies, and customs of the Egyptians ; the 
whole, however, is in a state of deplorable ruin. 

Once more we emerged into the bright sun and 
clear sky, which perpetually hang over these lonely 
mountains ; but it was again to encounter the hide- 
ous mummy-dealerSj.who grouped round the entrance 
of the tomb, dense, dark, and deviUsh as the fallen 
angels. Among them was my omnipresent friend 
with the magic jai' ! 

The next tomb we entered, called the Harper's, is 
remarkable for its length and decorations. It reaches 
through an ample and lofty passage-way into the rock 
to the distance of four hundred and five feet ! Side 
rooms, adorned with painted sculpture, open on either 
hand throughout its entire length. At the extremity 
of the passage-way, the excavation enlarges into a 
vaulted chamber, about forty feet by twenty-five. 
Here was once the sarcophagus of the king ; but an 



590 TOMB OF THE HARPER. 

English consul* swept it of its dust and sent it to the 
British Museum. 

Besides the deified images and sjmboHcal figures 
usual in the mystical ceremonies of the Egyptians, 
the scenes represented upon this tomb embrace those 
of agriculture, the navigation of the Nile, culinary 
operations, warlike implements, and those of husban- 
dry. One room exhibits a variety of furniture, evin- 
cing an elegance of form, finish, and richness indica- 
tive of wealth, civilization, and refined taste. This 
tomb has long been exposed to the Vandal crush of 
man ; and destructive are the blows received upon its 
beauteous walls. 

Leaving the chambers of this grotto-palace, and 
pushing through the relic-venders at the door, we en- 
tered another which penetrated the rock to the dis- 
tance of three hundred and sixty-three feet ; but, with 
the exception of the representation of some chairs, 
couches, boxes, mirrors, vases, 'necklaces, arms, and 
fans, there was nothing to detain us. 

We came out again, and passing in review before 
the resurrectionists, we penetrated the rock through 
the passage-way of another tomb to the distance of 
two hundred and eighteen feet. In the vaulted cham- 
ber of the king are the shattered remains of his gran- 
ite sarcophagus, which was eleven feet six inches by 
seven, and nearly ten feet in height ! The robbers 
who burst in and despoiled the tomb, not being able 
to raise the hd of the sarcophagus, dashed in its sides 
and ruined it for ever. Near this there are two other 

• The tomb-relic Salt. Wilkinson's Thebes, 144. 



OLDEST TOMB OF THE KINGS. 



591 



tombs of considerable interest and elegance. One is 
two hundred and forty-three feet in extent, and the 
other IS a hundred and thirty-two : both are deco- 
rated with hieroglyphical sculpture and painting. 
Those, however, which I have enumerated, comprise 
but a small part of the royal catacombs. 

The last which we entered is supposed to be the 
oldest of all the " Tombs of the Kings." Its entrance 
is nearly closed ; but, with difficulty, we could crowd 
our bodies through the constrained aperture. None 
of our party were inclined to attempt the exploration 
except Mr. J. and myself. And I must confess, as I 
slid down the rapid and deep descent, and looked 
back upon the pile of loose stones, threatening, at the 
removal of the least rubbish at the bottom, to rush 
down upon us and entirely close the grotto, that the 
scene appeared " rather pokerish." I did not much 
fancy the idea of being buried alive, even in Pharaoh's 
tomb. 

Carefully feeling our way down to the distance of 
two hundred feet, we came to the vaulted chamber 
of the sarcophagus, ornamented with frescoes, and 
containing the violated coffin. Besides this, there 
was little to be seen, and the chambers were filled 
with loose stones. Mr. J. selected a bone as a me- 
mento, but whether it was that of a king or a peasant, 
we did not stop to determine, but hastened to join 
our companions at the entrance of the tomb, where I 
met a w^arm reception from my inexorable friend with 
the jar, and found our party more thoughtful about 
the good things of this life, than regardful of the im- 



592 RELIC-VENDERS. 

portant provision for the next. We were all much 
fatigued, and as hungry as cormorants. 

Quitting this lonely and secluded spot, we soon 
came out upon the cheerful plains of Thebes. We 
passed the ruined temple of Gournoo, the great gate- 
way of which is demolished ; but the columns, facade, 
grand hall, and some of the rooms are yet preserved. 
The sculpture and paintings are badly mutilated. We 
were, however, too much fatigued to remain long un- 
der a blazing sun, with the thermometer at 80° ; and^ 
after again encountering my man of the jar, who, to- 
gether with the black host of his companions, hadby 
this time come up, we rode down to the boat. * 

While we were sitting under the awning after din- 
ner, a silky breeze gently rippled the face of the Nile, 
and the high bank over our heads was black with a 
dense crowd of relic-men. It was now proposed to 
examine their trinkets ; peradventure we might find 
something worth carrying away. On being informed 
that we would treat with them one by one in ro- 
tation, and give all in turn a chance, they jumped 
from the bank as one man, and assailed the boat like 
so many pirates. The uproar was indescribable ; all 
determined to be first, and they were so in fact. The 
most conspicuous of them all was the fellow with the 
old y^r .' He resolved that I should no longer escape. 
This Arab had haunted me with his jar from daylight 
in the morning until that hour ; and, though refused 
a hundred times, and cuffed, kicked, and stoned by 
the guides at the door of every tomb we entered, he 
had not given me up! What was to be done? — 



MOONLIGHT VIEW OF KARNAK. 593 

Why, lest the creature should follow me through the 
desert to the Holy Land, Europe, across the Atlantic, 
and, jar in hand, renew his importunities with me in 
the streets of New York, I concluded the better way 
was to purchase his jar, and get it out of my sight ! 

As the sun went down, leaving his golden tints up- 
on the deep blue sky, the moon, half rounded, assumed 
the helm of night, and mingled its mellow beams with 
the stars of heaven. Hills, plains, mountains, river, 
temples, and statues, all assumed new beauty, and a 
peculiar and inexpressible grandeur rested upon the 
scene. At this delightful hour, while we were taking 
a cup of tea, quietly seated in the tent of our boat, 
we ordered the sailors to haul over to the right bank 
of the Nile, with the view of passing the next day 
among the ruins of Karnak. We had no idea of 
leaving the boat till the next morning ; indeed, the 
exciting scenes of the day seemed to render rest in- 
dispensable. But the effects of the vivifying plant 
of China, and the splendour of that glorious night? 
brought over us a magic change. We felt like new 
creatures ; the spring-floods of Ufe rushed through our 
worn frames, and reanimated them, for the moment, 
with the smiles, hopes, and buoyancy of youth. Coats, 
canes, and arms were mounted, and we were cheerily 
traversing the plain for a moonlight view of the ruins 
of Karnak ! 

Although we had more than a mile to go, we soon 
stood in the great court of the temple. In the soft 
light of the moon, the fallen fabric of our contempla- 

VoL. I. — 75 



594 RUINS OF KARNAK. 

tion assumed a grandeur and sublimity that we had 
been strangers to in our previous visits. In the centre 
of the court, a lonely column, expanding its ample 
capital like a canopy over our heads, Kose in all the 
majesty, entireness, and perfection of its pristine ele- 
gance. How changed, beautified, and enlarged seem- 
ed the whole massive pile ! Order rose from chaotic 
ruin ; what had before seemed like a crushed, crum- 
bled, and confused world, now assumed the perfection 
of art and regularity. Imagination could almost bring 
up the fallen roof, raise the broken wall and prostrate 
pillars, add lustre to the tarnished gilding, restore the 
bruised sculpture, re-open the imposing aisles, and 
breathe fresh existence into the brilliant groups that 
once bowed in pompous worship at the feet of Pha- 
raoh's god; — and the music of their golden harps 
seemed ready to burst voluptuously upon the stillness 
of the night 1 But the gorgeous ceremonial has long 
since passed away. The crafty priest with his gilded 
robe and pompous offering is veiled in darkness, and 
the record of his name is obliterated. 

We ascended the great propylon, whence we were 
enabled to comprehend the gigantic plan of the ruin 
with much satisfaction. The great gateways, rising 
in the distance north, south, east, and west, opened 
their lofty portals with augmented interest and mag- 
nificence. The vast western court was encumbered 
with the spoils of art ; the incomparable columns of 
the grand hall, the subUme obelisks, the bruised stat- 
ues, the ruined sanctuary, the half-broken colonnades, 
the crumbled walls, shaded here and there by grace- 



DEGRADATION AND MISERY. 595 

fill palms, — all combined a most exciting and inter- 
esting scene ! 

Descending from this position, we walked to a ruin 
strewed a little to the south, which was beautified 
with a profusion of statuary ; among which we dis- 
covered two large sphinxes, with female heads. 
They had been cruelly broken ; yet there was a calm 
placidity and graceful sweetness about their features 
that I had never before seen impressed upon inani- 
mate objects. They seemed like wronged and in- 
jured creatures of real life, patiently and silently 
suffering a thousand abuses, yet meekly enduring all 
with a purity of sentiment and resignation belong- 
ing to happier realms. 

As we turned pensively from these objects, and di- 
rected our steps toward the Nile; we passed through 
a cluster of huts, standing like a loathsome blotch on 
the skirts of the noble ruins. 

A silent group of aged men, perched upon a heap 
of rubbish in the street, were smoking. There was 
a noisy party in one of the hovels, engaged in the 
dance, keeping time with their feet and distorted 
bodies. How changed, alas ! — 

" The world's great empress on the Egyptian plain, 
That spread her conquest o'er a thousand stales, 
And poured her heroes through a hundred gates !" — 

Her miserable, degenerated inhabitants, now dwin- 
dled to an insignificant band, trembling at the sUght- 
est frown of a foreign vassal, seek a wretched sub- 
sistence from the sale of the bones and coffins of 
their ancestors ! 



596 



FORMS OF MUMMY-CASES. 



We returned to the boat, and swung into the 
stream. The sailors raised their deep voices, while 
the dipping oars kept time to their coarse music ; and 
the next day we were before the temple of Dendera. 




Different Forms of Mummy-Cases. 
1, 2, 4, 9, of wood,— 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, of stone.— 10, of burnt earthenware. 



TEMPLE OF DENDERA. 



697 




Exterior View of a Tomb cut in the Rock at Beni Hassan. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 



Temple of Dendera, — A Cook in danger of being cooked. — 
Capture of a Pelican. — Siout, and the " Beautiful j bright' 
eyed little Arab GirV^ — Mr. Scantletrash and Paul. — His 
Excellency the Governor. — Ancient Tombs, Modern Ceme- 
tery, Fox-hunt, and Death of a Bat. — Ruins of Antinoe. 
— Tombs of Beni Hassan, and our last Interview with the 
Rimtapers. 

The temple of Dendera stands about three miles 
from the Nile, on the Libyan side. We approached 
it through two ancient pylons, standing about half 
a mile apart. The intervening spaces between the 
gateways and the temple were strewed with old brick- 
work, pottery, mud-huts, and other rubbish. 



598 



TEMPLE OJ^ DENDERA. 



Passing over the broken walls of the modern town, 
which are constructed of the mud of the Nile, we 
soon came to the temple, which is surrounded by the 
filthy dens of the Arabs, w^hich are also built upon 
its roof This is the most perfect and entire of all 
the Egyptian temples. It faces the east, and is about 
two hundred and twenty-five feet in length and forty- 
two in width. The portico is supported by twenty- 
four sculptured columns ; it is somewhat higher and 
wider than the main body of the temple, and was 
added by Tiberias.* The grand and imposing fa- 
cade rises forty-five feet above the base of the col- 
umns. A large globe with wdngs and serpents sur- 
mounts the principal entrance, and the whole temple 
is deeply loaded with sculptured and painted embel- 
lishments. The grand hall is fifty-one feet by forty- 
two, and supported by Isis-headed columns, fifteen 
feet in circumference. The second room is forty- 
two feet by eighteen, and the two which succeed it 
are each of nearly the same dimensions ; all dark, and 
choked up with the filth of the Arabs. The walls, 
roof, columns, and nearly all other parts of this tem- 
ple are well preserved ; though its sculptures are cru- 
elly defaced, and the whole is neglected and left to 
the ravages of time, travellers, and " scientific re- 
search." 

Near by are the remains of another small temple ; 
and in various directions we saw other vestiges of 
the ancient city, whose inhabitants were celebrated 
for their hatred of the crocodile, and their daring and 

• Wilkinson's Thebes, 403. 



A COOK IN DANGER. 599 

successful manner of attacking him. The modern 
village is deserted ; not a soul was visible ; and the 
surrounding plains wore a neglected aspect. 

Again resuming our downward course, we swept 
prosperously on with the wind and current until the 
next morning, when a gale springing up from the 
north, subjected our little vessel to some of those dis- 
agreeable lurchings, pitchings, rollings, and tumblings 
which distinguish an autumnal trip in a long, shallow- 
bottomed steamer round Point Judith. Mrs. C. was 
sick, the doctor upset his ink, and a disaster occurred 
which came near cooking the cook. One of John- 
ny's furnaces capsized with a. boiling tea-kettle ; and, 
although the poor fellow escaped without much in- 
jury, the steam and ashes which ascended veiled him 
from sight, and resembled the blowing up of a steam- 
er. Affairs seemed to have approached a crisis ; and, 
fearful of more serious consequences, we ran the boat 
ashore and staked it to the bank. The wind con- 
tinuing unfavourable for the two following days, our 
progress was greatly retarded. While we were strug- 
gling with the unpropitious blast, we saw a fine craft 
pressing gallantly up the Nile, with the flag of our 
own country. It was no sooner discovered that we 
too were protected by the stars and stripes, than the 
wind was shaken out of the sails of the ascending 
boat, and she was run against the bank. We were 
alongside with all practicable haste, and received a 
cordial greeting from the learned and estimable Dr. 

M , of New York. We made the voyage from 

Trieste to Athens with Dr. M , and left him amid 



600 CAPTURE OF A PELICAN. 

the classical remains of Greece ; and were now most 
happj to meet him upon the banks of the Nile. Af- 
ter an agreeable chat for some time, we separated 
with mutual good wishes and a round of musketry. 
Our friend filled his sail, and swept off pleasantly be- 
fore the gale, wdiile we were doomed to the further 
annoyance of head winds. 

The only event of any importance the next day, 
was the capture of a pelican, which Mr. J., after sev- 
eral shots, brought within the grasp of one of the 
sailors, who, supposing the huge bird dead, caught 
hold of it by one wing, and received for his civility 
a most uncomfortable nip from its bill, which made 
the poor Egyptian cry pecavi. 

Upon the summit of the mountains, on the Arabian 
side, we picked up some fine crystallizations, and sev- 
eral well-preserved petrified marine shells. The wind 
disappeared with the sun ; and the next day, while 
Johnny's pans and pots were odoriferously fuming 
with the garlic and flesh of Egypt, we ran the boat 
up in front of Siout. Deeming it a bad plan to visit 
graveyards and tombs with an empty stomach, we 
deferred our excursion to the grottoes till after dinner. 
That important meal being despatched, we were soon 
upon the causeway that conducts from the river to 
the city of Siout, which is situated in the midst of the 
most fertile plain in Upper Egypt. 

We had not rode far, when we met what I mistook 
for a lad of about fourteen, dressed in a short blue 
frock, sitting with folded arms upon a donkey, which 
was tripping along unguided by its rider, whose legs 



THE LITTLE ARAB GIRL. 601 

were dangling down its sides. I noticed something ra- 
ther agreeable in the expression of this Httle muleteer J 
but I thought no more of the matter until I heard one 
of our party say — " There goes Stephens's donkey- 
girl." 

« Where ?" said I. 

" There she is," said he, pointing to the muleteer 
who had just passed me. 

This gentleman had been in Siout before, and 
knew her to be the " beautiful, bright-eyed little Arab 
girl" mentioned by Mr. Stephens in his visit to this 
place. Recollecting the story, and the favourable im- 
pression she made upon my worthy countryman, I 
felt a curiosity to see her again, and in a few moments 
I had the pleasure ; for, giving her donkey in charge 
of another, she came dancing and laughing along to 
Mrs. C, caught the stick from the driver's hand, and 
insisted upon attending her, to the no small chagrin 
of the fellow whom she displaced. 

She was lively and talkative, and desirous to render 
us all the assistance in her power. Her eyes were 
really very beautiful, and her slender frame was grace- 
fully turned ; still I was not able to discover that ex- 
cessive charm so much admired by Mr. S. Fortu- 
nately, " Paul" was at hand, and saved his master and 
friend's judgment from the slightest imputation touch- 
ing the no trifling item of female beauty. 

" You must recollect," said Paul, " it is now five 
years since Mr. Stephens saw her ; and five years fre- 
quently makes great ravages in the fair visage of beau- 
ty. She was quite pretty five years ago ; but she has 

Vol. L — 76 



602 SCANTLETRA.SH AND PAUL. 

grown very ugly since. Now, she is like a boy ; but 
when Mr. Stephens saw her, she was quite another 
thing." 

Paul called her to his side as he rode along, and 
she rested her hand upon the back of his saddle, at- 
tentively listening to all he said. He told her that 
Mr. Stephens had written a book, which had circu- 
lated in all parts of the world ; and that Mr. S. had 
greatly praised her beauty and pretty manners. Upon 
hearing this unexpected intelligence, she looked Paul 
anxiously in the face, and asked him if it was really 
true. Paul assured her of the authenticity of all he 
had said, and added, that his name too was mentioned 
in the book ; but not always in the enviable terms in 
which she- had been spoken of. Upon this further 
assurance of the truth of Paul's story, she drooped 
her head, kissed her hand fervently several times, and 
smiled. Her teeth were regular, and white as ivory. 

Scantletrash now joined us, handed his gun to 
Paul, and wanted to know^ " why the devil he did not 
get that girl to drive his donkey V 

Paul replied — "Ce nest pas possible, Monsieur T 
and, seeing a turtle dove sitting upon a stone by the 
way, he drew up and gave the poor bird a charge of 
buckshot. The feathers flew, and so did the bird ; 
but Paul thought he had committed murder never- 
theless. It was not until he had taken up the fea- 
thers one by one, and examined every nook and cor- 
ner for some paces round, that he could be convinced 
that th*e bird he saw flitting so merrily away was in- 
deed that from whose tail he had knocked out a few 



THE GOVERNOR OF SIOUT. 603 

feathers ! Then shaking his head with a mysterious 
air, he said : " I can't make it out ; I'm sure I killed 
the bird 1" 

Scantletrash, who had advanced a little way ahead, 
bawled out — " Why the devil don't you come along, 
Paul, and not stand there all day, shaking the tail- 
feathers of a pigeon !" 

" I'm sure I killed it," said Paul. 

" Devil the bit of it," said Mr. Scantletrash ; " you'd 
not have hit had^it been within a yard of the muz- 
zle. Hand the piece here, and I'll give her a new 
charge." Paul handed the gun to Mr. Scantletrash, 
gave a significant grunt, and rode on. 

Just before passing the stone bridge at the entrance 
of the city, we unexpectedly found ourselves in the 
august presence of the governor of Siout. His Ex- 
cellency was holding a dismal-looking levee under a 
sycamore which stood before his door. Some fine 
Arabian horses, attended by armed grooms, standing 
a little way from the governor's circle, appeared more 
desirable than any thing I saw about the gubernato- 
rial mansion. 

Siout is better built than any town above Cairo, 
and contains twenty-one thousand inhabitants. We 
made the tour of the bazars, traversed the principal 
streets, and rode up to the tombs in the mountains, 
looking out upon a delightful view. 

The principal grottoes are ample and lofty, and 
some of them are elaborately adorned with painting 
and sculpture. They have, however, all gone to de- 
cay. In exploring one of them, we were assailed in 



604 A FOX-HUNT. 

the face by bats. Scantletrash at the same time dis- 
charged his gun, which caused them to rush out in 
thousands. Some of them were wounded, and one 
or two killed, and the report reverberated through the 
gloomy cavern with deafening echoes. 

Paul caught up one of the wounded quadrupeds, 
and carried it to the light for examination. He count- 
ed the shot-holes in its wings, and lavished his sym- 
pathy and condolence upon the unclean bat in the 
tenderest manner. While he was caressing it, it 
caught the honest dragoman's thumb between its 
teeth, and gave it a close, though bitter embrace. 
Paul's soothing tones were now changed into a strain 
of violent anathemas. He abused the bat Uke a Turk, 
called it an ungrateful WTetch, and wound up by put- 
ing the poor creature to death. 

While Paul was thus making much ado about his 
thumb, a fox came leaping from rock to rock down 
the mountain, and Scantletrash, " passionately fond 
of the chase," dashed after it at the top of his speed. 
He called out loud enough to split his throat for Paul 
to follow. Paul set out ; but ere he had proceeded 
ten rods, the fox entered a tomb ; and Scantletrash, 
tripping against a stone, tumbled over a precipice, 
and came near breaking his neck ! He soon re- 
appeared, with a battered shin, a bruised face, and a 
broken gun-stock, — and poured forth a showier of 
abuse upon his faithful dragoman, more bitter than 
that fluent linguist had heaped upon the unfortunate 
bat. It was an exciting interview ; and, long ere the 
discussion was over, we descended the declivity of 



TOMBS OF BENI HASSAN. 605 

the mountain and entered the cemetery, — which, 
without exception, is the most respectable modern 
burying-ground that we saw in all the Turkish do- 
minions. 

Having satisfied our curiosity, we resumed our 
boat, and the next morning we were at Shekh Aba- 
deh. We landed for a slight inspection of the ruins 
of Antinoe, which are strewed along the eastern bank 
of the Nile. They present little except a few bro- 
ken columns and a pulverized mass of bricks and old 
pottery. We purchased a few antique coins of the 
natives, and then passed down to the tombs of Beni 
Hassan. 

These grottoes are in the mountains, about a mile 
and a half from the river. Though far less magnifi- 
cent than the " Tombs of the Kings," they are never- 
theless interesting, and throw much light upon the 
state of Egyptian society at an early period. They 
were excavated during the reign of Osirtasen I.,* who 
reigned 1740 B. C. ;t and show by their chasteness 
of style, that the beauties of architectural effect were 
then understood and appreciated. 

Wilkinson says that " the fluted columns of Beni 
Hassan are of a character calling to mind the purity 
of the Doric, which indeed seems to have derived 
its origin from Egypt."J 

Osirtasen I. is supposed to have been a contempo- 
rary with Joseph. Were that the fact, he was proba- 
bly the Pharaoh who " took off his ring from his hand, 

♦ Wilkinson's Thebes, 375. f Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, i. 42. 

t Ibid. 44. 



606 TOMBS OF BENI HASSAN. 

and put it upon Joseph^s hand ; arrayed him in ves- 
tures of fine linen ; put a gold chain about his neck, 
and made him ruler over all the land of Egypt."* 

There is a group of strangers in one of the tombs, 
supposed by some to represent the arrival of Joseph's 
brethren in Egypt. The Israelitish cast of counte- 
nance which characterizes the group, strengthened 
this conjecture. 

That the Egyptians had attained a high degree of 
refinement at this period, is evident from the jevrels 
and fine linen with which Pharaoh arrayed Joseph. 
The various scenes of manufactures, arts, and agri- 
culture, exhibited upon the walls of these tombs, how- 
ever, bear still more satisfactory testimony to the de- 
velopment of civilization. Here are representations 
of glass-blowers, manufacturers of linen, goldsmiths, 
potters, painters, sculptors, and other artisans. Vari- 
ous implements of husbandry, the mode of irrigation, 
the chase, fishing and fowling scenes, are also vividly 
depicted. Among their amusements, may be men- 
tioned the games of chess, ball, wrestling, and feats 
of agility, performed by both men and women. On 
one side, a physician is represented in the exercise of 
the mysteries of his art — apparently letting blood. 
The bastinado is not overlooked ; and both men and 
women are made impressively to believe in its effi- 
cacy. It were useless to attempt a description of all 
the varied delineations upon the walls of these cata- 
combs. They are well worth a visit ; and, if possi- 
ble, should be seen by the traveller before examining 
the more splendid tombs of Thebes. 

* Gen. xii, 42, 43. 



THE RIMTAPERS. 



607 



Putting our boat before the breeze, we descended 
to Minieh by ten o'clock the same evening. The 
moon was high and full ; not a cloud flitted across 
the heavens. As we swept rapidly past the town, a 
long-sided craft lay against the bank, with a flag flap- 
ping loosely down the mast, by which we knew it 
belonged to the Franks. There were lights on board, 
and several men rushed out and ran down the bank, 
hallooing — " Stop ! stop ! stop !" Not knowing the 
tiaeaning of this hue-and-cry, and imagining there 
might be some one in distress, we came to as soon as 
possible, and were surprised to meet the janizary of 
Sir Danbury Rimtaper. On being informed that Sir 
Danbury and his three maiden sisters were in the 
boat we had just passed, and desired to see us, we 
walked back to meet them. 

It will be recollected, that, about the time of our 
departure from Cairo, we encountered Sir Danbury 
at Bulak in quest of a boat. He had then been one 
month engaged in an unsuccessful pursuit of the same 
object. They were finally obliged to wait for a new 
boat to be built ; and, after a further delay of twenty- 
five days, it had been completed. It was an immense 
thing, and stuffed as full of men as the piratical cutter 
of Captain Kid. The river was getting so low that 
they could scarcely float it ; they were continually 
aground, and encountering other difficulties, which 
seemed to preclude the possibility of their reaching 
Thebes unaided by the blessing of the next inunda- 
tion. As room, however, seemed to be an impor- 
tant desideratum, they had succeeded in that respect 



608 PERPLEXITIES OF THE RIMTAPERS. 

to their hearts' content, for each had an apartment as 
large as an English tap-room. Sir Danburj's was 
quite at the stern of the boat. He was down with a 
complication of diseases, embracing, among the most 
prominent, gout, ophthalmia, and lumbago. As we 
stepped on board, he was reciting an emphatic string 
of curses in a sepulchral tone, which echoed through 
the boat like the voice of an angry man at the bottom 
of a well. The apartments of the Misses Rimtaper 
succeeded to those of Sir Danbury, with a dining 
and receiving room built out in front of the cabin, in 
which the dragoman and janizary, loaded with arms, 
took up their posts as an advanced guard. 

There was great animation on board ; all hands 
were in a bustle ; and the whole resembled a priva- 
teer just ready for sea. We met, however, a very 
cordial reception from the ladies, who had a thousand 
inquiries to make, and a great variety of interesting 
matter to relate about themselves, which was " ex- 
ceedingly odd" and very amusing. 

They were not a little anxious about the power 
which they had delegated to their janizary, into 
whose hands they had resigned the rais and crew, 
and he was flogging some of the men every hour in 
the day. Thus far, however, the janizary had hardly 
come up to their ideas of discipline ; but they fore- 
saw that " he might exercise his authority in a cruel 
manner." They were in as much of a quandary to 
know how they were to restrain the too lavish exer- 
cise of power by this functionary, as were the con- 
siderate friends of the United States Bank. All 



APPEARANCE OF THE JANIZARY. 609 

were agreed that, with the government deposites, and 
" Old Nick" at its head, the " monster" had the abiUty 
and the ivill to keep a stiiF check upon the over- 
banking propensities of all kindred institutions ; but 
they were not so clear with regard to the conduct 
of that gigantic machine " should it happen to drop 
under the control of had men!' 

Thus it was wdth the Rimtapers. So long, how- 
ever, as the janizary confined himself to the use of 
the bastinado, they little regarded the consequences ; 
it was quite congenial with their sense of propriety. 
" But, should the fellow take a fancy to resort to ex- 
tremities — what are we to do then ?" said they to me. 

Never having had much experience with these 
armed, silver-headed cane gentry, I could throw no 
light whatever upon the perplexing obscurity which 
hung over the solution of their inquiry. Just at this 
moment, I descried the sombre visage of the janizary, 
darkening a side door opening into the saloon. He 
was a tall, gaunt figure, in full costume, with pistols 
in his belt, a sabre at his side, and a face like that 
of a hangman. He was in the act of emerging from 
the pantry with some refreshments which one of the 
Misses Rimtaper had hospitably provided for our en- 
tertainment, — comprising some dried dates, a loaf of 
cake, and a cold fowl. These, together with two 
tall bottles of some kind of hquid, and a profusion of 
wine-glasses, tumblers, water-jugs, knives and forks, 
were arranged upon a circular wooden tray ; which, 
like the family picture of the Vicar of Wakefield, 
was too large to be admitted through the door with- 

VoL. I. — 77 



610 LAST INTERVIEW WITH THE RIMTAPERS. 

out destroying its horizontal position, so essential to 
the just equilibrium of the bottles, jugs, and glasses. 
The janizary, cane in hand, grasped the expansive 
machine, and vainly endeavoured to press it into the 
saloon. He turned and twisted it, until the glasses 
rattled, the bottles tumbled, — and, to save the whole 
from sliding off, he let go the tray with one hand, 
made a convulsive thrust, got the sabre between his 
legs, and pitched headlong into the saloon, amid bro- 
ken bottles, smashed tumblers, and the total wreck of 
the whole contents of the tray. The ladies screamed, 
and Sir Danbury came muttering along with his night- 
cap on, thrust his head through the door, and vehe- 
mently exclaimed — " I'll be demmed if this is not the 
most extraordinary spectarhal I ever witnessed, 'pon 
honour !" I was of the same opinion. 

We apologized for abbreviating the pleasures of a 
more prolonged interview, bade our amiable friends 
adieu, and in three days thereafter we were in Cairo, 
engaging Arabs, camels, and tents, preparatory to our 
tracing the footsteps of the Israelites through the 
desert to Mount Sinai, Petra, and the Holy Land. 



A 

CATALOGUE 

OF 

BOOKS 

IN 

DIVIi^lTY, HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, POETRY, 

VOYAGES AND TRAVELS, 
ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING, 

AND 

PUBLISHED BT 

D. APPLETON & CO. 

NE\A^-YORK. 

AND Geo. S. Appleton, JYo, 148, Chestnut-street, Philadelphia, 

BURNET'S HISTORY of the REFORMATION. 

The History of the Reformation of the Church of England, by Gilbert Burnet, D.D., 
late Lord Bishop of Salisbury — with the Collection of Records and a copious In- 
dex, revised and corrected, with additional Notes and a Preface, by the Rev. E, 
Nares, D.D., late Professor of Modem History in the University of Oxford. Ilius. 
trated with a Frontispiece and twenty-three engraved Portraits, forming four ele- 
gant 8vo. vols. ^8 00. 

The established character of Bishop Burnet's History of the Reformation as a standard vrork, and 
most valuable historical authority, render it unnecessary to enter into any analysis of its merits, fuar- 
ther than briefly to state the advantages of this edition over all others. 

Often as this celebrated History of the Reformation of the Church of England has been printed 
and published, often as it has been read, and continually as it has been referred to by successire 
•writers, interested in the important subject of which it treats ; yet one thing seems to have been cwi 
stantly overlooked, namely, the necessity of a distinct Preface to point out, and to explain to readers 
in general, the particular character of the publication. 

It is a work of too great magnitude to be repeatedly read through, and though its eminence as an 
historical work, must always be Fuch as to render it imperatively necessary for certain writers to con 
suit its pages, yet in every reprint of it, it should be contemplated by the publisher not merely as a 
book of reference, but as one to be read like other books of history regularly from the beginning to 
the end, not by professed scholars only, or by persons already versed m history, civil or ecclesiastical, 
but by such as may be only beginning their historical inquiries and researches — young readers and 
mere students. 

Scarcely any other book of equal importance, perhaps, stands so much in need of preliminary ex- 
planations as this great work of the celebrated writer whose name it bears. And it must often, wo 
should think, have been a matter of just surprise to the readers of this history, that, in the editioiui 
hitherto published, the errors in the first and second volumes have been reprinted, which the author 
himself noticed at the end of the third volume. In the present edition the text will be found correct- 
ed as it should be, and many explanatory notes added throughout the work. 

" The extract above from the editor's preface defines the peculiar merits of this splendid worit, 
which is at once the cheapest and the most elegant edition which we have ever seen, of this vrell 
known and invaluable history. We were fed on the old folio edition of Burnet in the days of oar 
childhood, and the impressions which its facts and its illustrations then made on the mmd, have 
never been effaced, but have had their full share in making us thoroughly Protestant, and aggressive 
enemies of the church of Rome. We are therefore most heartily rejoiced to see that Appletun & Co. 
have issued this standard work in four elegant volumes, at only two dollars a volume ; a.nd when vb 
look at its numerous and fine engravings of many distinguished reformers, and its more than two 
Uiousand pagee of reading matter on handsome paper in elegant type, we cannot doubt that thousand* 
e£ our readora vrill wish to introduce it into their families without delay." — N. Y. Observer. 



Divinity f Theology^ Religious and Devotional Works. 

>VORKS BY XHE REV. JOHN A. JAMES. 

PASTORAL ADDRESSES. 
By Rev. John Angell James. ' With an Introduction by the Rev. Wm. Adams. 1 vol. ISinn. $0 50. 
" We opine that the publishers of this volume made an accurate calculation when they labelled 
these 'Pastoral Addresses' — stereotyped; for they are among the choice effusions which already 
have so highly benefitted Christian society from the noble heart and richly-endowed mind of Mr. 
James. They are ministerial counsels to the members of his congregation, and are offered as monthly 
epistles for a year, being twelve in number, and are thus entitled : ' Increased Holiness of th« 
Church; Spirituality of Mind; Heavenly Mindedness ; Assurance of Hope; Practical Religion seeu 
in every thing ; A Profitable Sabbath ; Christian Obligations ; Life of Faith ; Influence of elder 
Christians ; Spirit of Prayer ; Private Prayer, and Self-Examination.' " — Christian Intelligencer. 

THE YOUNG MAN FROM HOME. 

la a series of Letters, especially directed for the Moral Advancement of Youtlu By the Rev. John 
Angell James. Fifth edition. 1 vol. 18mo. 37} Cents. 
" This work, from the able and prolific pen of Mr. .Tames, is not inferior, we think, to any of its pre- 
decessors. It contemplates a young man at the most critical period of life, and meets him at every 
point as a guide in the paths of virtue, as a guard from the contagious influence of vice. Every 
young man who desires to form a virtuous and useful character, should possess himself of this admir- 
able work ; and every Christian parent, whose sons are leaving the paternal mansion for another 
home, should take care that they carry away with them this rich treasury of Christian counsel and 
instruction." — Albany Advertiser. 

THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSOR. 

Addressed in a series of Counsels and Cautions to the Members of Christian Churches. By Rev. 
John Angell James. 1 vol. 18mo. 62|- Cents. 
"The author remarks in this excellent volume : ' When f look inta the New Testament and read 
•what a Christian should be, and then look into the church of God, and see what Christians ore, I am 
painfully affected by observing the dissimilarity ; and in my jealousy for the honour of the Christia-a 
profession, have made this effort, perhaps a feeble one, and certainly an anxious one, to remove its 
blemishes, to restore its impaired beauty, and thus raise its reputation.' 

' ' It is not my intention to^ enter into the consideration of private, experimental, or doctrinal reli- 
gion, so much as into its practical parts ; and to contemplate the believer rather as a profes-sor, than a 
Christian, or at least, rather as a Christian in relation to the world, than in his individual capacity, 
or in his retirement.' 

" The following are the divisions under which he treats his subject, viz : What the Christian pro- 
fession imports ; its Obligations and Designs : the Danger of Self-Deception ; the Young Professor ; 
an attempt to compare the present generation of Professors with others that have preceded them ; the 
necessity and importance of Professors not being satisfied with low degrees of Piety, and of their seek- 
ing to attain to eminence : the duty of Professors to avoi<l the appearance of e\il ; on Conformities to 
the World ; on the Conduct of Professors m reference to Politics ; on Brotherly Love ; the Iiiiluence 
of Professors ; their Conduct towards Unconverted Relatives ; the Unmarried Professor ; the Pro- 
fessor in Prosperity ; in adversity ; the Conduct of Professors away from Home ; the Backsliding 
Professor; on the necessity of the Holy Spirit's Influence to sustain the Christian Profession; th» 
Dying Professor." — N. Y. Observer. 

THE ANXIOUS ENQUIRER AFTER SALVATION 

Directed and Encouraged. By Rev. John Angell James. 1 vol. 18mo. 37^ cents. 
Twenty thousand copies of this excellent little volum^e have already been sold, which fully attests 
the high estimation the work has attained with the religious community. 

HAPPINESS, ITS NATURE AND SOURCES. 

Ey Rev. J. A, Jaines. 1 vol. 32mo. 25 cents. 
•* This is written i>i the excellent author's best vem. He has with a searching fidelity, exposed th« 
various unsatisfying expedients by vjhich the natural heart seeks to a.ttain the great end and aim of 
all— happiness, and with powerful and touching exhortulioiis directed it to the never-failing source of 
all good. The author does not engage himself in specu!ati<ins or theorrns. The results of extended 
observation, the testimony of well-attested experience, are arrayed, in the lightof which the true way 
and the false are clearly seen. It is eloquently and pointedly written. A better book we have not io 
a long time seen." — Evangelist. 

THE WIDOW DIRECTED 

To the Widow's G-od. By the Rev. John AngeU James. 1 vol. ISmo. 371^ cents. 
" If any thing more were necessary to cive this book currency with the Christian cnmmunity thari 
the name of its author, we should have it in the peculiarly tender and interesting nature of the sub- 
ject on which he writes. He has written many good books, and all belong to the same general class ; 
and though some of them are mor(» generally applicable than this, yet in no one, perhaps, has he dis- 
covered a more skilful hand, or a more tender and devout spirit. The book is worthy to be read by 
others besides the class for which it is especially designed ; and we doubt not that it is destined to 
c^me as a friendly visiter to many a house of mourning, and as a healing balm to many a wauu'le<i 
aeart." — N. Y. Observer. 



Divinity^ Theology ^ Religious and Devotional Worls. 9 

WORKS BY REV. ROBT. PHILIP. 

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN BUNYAN, 

Author of The Pilgrim's Progress. By Robert Philip. With a fine Portrait. 1 vol. 12mo. $126. 

THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF DR. MILNE, 

Missionary to China. Illustrated by Biographical Annals of Asiatic Missions, from Primitive Protes- 
tant Times ; intended as a Guide to Missionary Spirit. By Robert Philip. 1 vol. 12mo. 50 cts. 

"The name of Philip has in this country, as well as in Great Britain, become a passport to rub- 
Kc favour. Tiiough the subject of this memoir may not be surrounded with the same splendid attrac- 
tions as was that of the memoir of Banyan, yet it is one of very great interest ; and to the Christian 
reader, and especially to those who are deeply interested in the cause of missions, it will probably 
bear a comparison with almost any that have gone before it. The wt.-rk is executed with great skill, 
and embodies a vast amount of valuable missionary intelligence, besides a ricli variety of personal 
iacidents, adapted to gratify not only the missioiiary or the Christian, but the more general reader-" 
— Observer. 

YOUNG MAN'S CLOSET LIBRARY. 

By Robert Philip. WiJi an Introductory Essay by Rev. Albert Barnes. 1 vol. 12mo. $100. 

LOVE OF THE SPIRIT, Traced in his Work : a Companion to the Experimental Guides. By 
Robert Philip. 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

DEVOTIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL GUIDES. By Robert Philip. With an Introduc- 
tory Essay by Rev. Albert Barnes. 2 vols. 12rao. $1 75. Containing : 

Guide to the Perplexed. I Guide to the Doubting. 

Do. do. Devotional. Do. do. Conscientious. 

Do. do. Thoughtful. j Do. do. Redemption. 

LADY'S CLOSET LIBRARY. 

AS FOLLOWS : 

THE MARTS ; or Beauty of Female Holiness. By Robert Philip. 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

THE MARTHAS ; or Varieties of Female Piety. By Robert Philip. 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

THE LYDIAS ; or Development of Female Character. By Robert Philip. 1 vol. ISmo. 50 cte. 

The MATERNAL SERIES of the above popular Library is now ready, entitled 

THE HANNAHS; or Maternal Influence of Sons. By Robert Philip. 1 vol. 18mo. 50 cts. 

'* The author of this work is known to the public as one of the most prolific writers of the day, and 
scarcely any writer in the department which he occupies, has acquired so extensive and well-merited 
a popularity. The present volume, as its title denotes, is devoted to an illustration of the influence of 
mothers on their sons ; and the subject is treated with the same originality and beauty which char- 
acterize the author's other works. It will be found to be a most delightful and useful compuuion in 
the nursery, and its influence can hardly fail to be felt; first, in quickening the sense of responsibi- 
lity on the part of mothers ; and next, in forming the character of the rising generation to a higher 
standard of intelligence and virtue." — Evangelist. 



GEMS FROM TRAVELLERS. 

Illustrative of various passages in the Holy Scripture, with nearly one hundred Engravings. Among 

the authorities quoted will be found the following distinguished names : Harmer, Laborde, Lane, 

Madden, Clarke, Pococke, Chandler, Malcom, Hartley, Russel, Jowitt, Came, Shaw, Morier, Nei- 

buhr, Bruce, Calmet, H. Blunt, Belzoni, Lord Lindsay, &c. <fec. 1 vol. 12mo. $1 00. 

"The Holy Scriptures contain many passages fall of importance and beauty, but not generally 

understood, because they contain allusion to manners and customs, familiar indeed to those to whom 

they were originally addressed, but imperfectly known to us. In order to obviate this difl^ciilty, this 

yolume is now presented to the public, consisting of extracts from She narratives of travellers who 

have recorded the customs of the oriental nations, from whom we learn that some usage-s were re 

tained among them to this day, such as existed at the times when the Scriptures were written, and 

that these names are in many instances little changed since the patriarchal times. The compiler of 

this volume trusts that it may be the means, under God's providence, of leading unlearned readers to 

a more general acquaintance wth Eastern customs, and assist them to a clearer perception of th« 

propriety and beauty of the illustrations so often drawn from them in the Bible." 



History J Biography , ^c. 11 

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SOCIETY, 

IN THE BARBAROUS AND CIVILIZED STATE. 

An Essay towards Discovering the Origin and Course of Human Improvement. 

By W. Cooke Taylor, LL.D., «&c., of Trinity CoUege, Dublin. Handsomely 

printed on fine paper. 2 vols. 12mo. ^2 25. 

" The (lesig-n of this work is to determine, from an examination of the various forms in which society 
has been found, what was the origin of civilization ; and under what circumstances those attribute's 
of humanity which in one country become the foundation of social happiness, are in another perverted 
to the production of general misery. For this purpose the author has separately examined the prin- 
cipal elements by which society, under all its aspects, is held together, and traced each to its source 
m human nature ; he has then directed attenti(m to the development of those principles, and pointed 
out the circumstances by which they were perfected on the one hand, or con-upted on the other. 
Having- thus, by a rigid analysis, shown what the elements and conditions of civilization are, he has 
tested the accuracy of his results by applying them to the history of civilization itself. From this 
statement of the scope of the work, and of the method in which the author proceeds to develop his 
investigations, the reader will at once recognise its importance, and it now rests with us to inquire 
regarding the degree of ability displayed in the execution of the design. To detect all the wrongs 
and errors of humanity, in its various conditions from dark to enlightened ages — in tlie barbai-ous and 
cirilized state, and to provide appropriate remedies for these, is a task no man would undertake to 
perform, with the hope of executing it perfectly and completely ; but that much may be effected 
towards improving the condition of mankind, by a close investigation into the moral elements which 
form the basis of the various modifications society has assumed throughout different ages, in the bar- 
barous as well as more civilized nations, cannot be doubted ; ,and it affords us sincere gratification to 
find this subject, so fraught with important objects for reflection, considei-ed and laid before the public 
by so able a writer. We have perused the work with more interest and profit than any that has come 
under our notice for some time, and earnestly request the studious attention of our readers to the im- 
portant suggestions and imposing truths it at every page discloses." — Scottish Journal. 

CARLYLE ON HISTORY AND HEROES. 

On Heroes, Hero- Worship, and the Heroic in History. Six Lectures, reported with 
Emendations and Additions, by Thomas Carlyle, Author of the French Revolution, 
Sartor Resartus, &c. Elegantly printed in one vol. 12mo. Second edition. ^1 00. 

" A masterly production. — Even the single lecture to which we shall confine our office, is, we feel^ 
a greater theme than can be sufficiently illustrated at our hands. We have elsewhere noticed a new 
edition of Sartor Resartus, by the same author. It is a very remarkable work, though we must con- 
fess somewhat too German and transcendental for our taste. We rejoice to say that we find no such 
difBculties besetting us in these disquisitions on heroes. They are in truth philosophical enough, 
abrupt enough, tearing enough ; but their philosophy is clear, distinct, and intelligible ; their abrupt- 
ness is the vigour of Demosthenes ; their tearing the acts of a giant who has a wilderness to burst 
through and open to the rest of mankind. 

" In the division of his labours, the author considers >.he Hero in his ancient incarnations as, 1. A 
Divinity ; 2. A Prophet ; 3. A Poet, and 4. A Priest — quasi Odin, Mahomet, Dante and Shakspeare, 
Luther and Knox, and latterly, as 5. A Man of Letters; and 6. A King — quasi Johnson, Rousseau, 
Burns, Cromwell, and Napoleon. It is to the fifth of these Lectures that we devote our attention. Its 
exordium is original and splendid. And here we must close a work — such as we have seldom seen 
the like of, and one which redeems the literature of our superficial and manufacturing period. It is 
one to purify our natures, expand our ideas, and exalt our souls. Let no library or book-room be with- 
out it ; the more it is studied the more it will be esteemed." — Literary Gazette. 

A SKETCH OP THE LIFE OF PETER VAN SCHUCK, LL.D. 

Embracing Selections from his Correspondence and other "Writings during the 

American Revolution, and his Exile in England. By his Son, Henry C. Vaa 

Schaack. One handsome volume, 8vo. ^2 59. 

" This work forms a novel contribution to the historj' of the American Revolution, and totally unr 
fike any work which has yet appeared on that subject. It p'-esents a touching picture of the hardships 
undergone by an American of elevated character, in consequence of his maintaining a neutrality in 
the revolutionary war. The work is characterized by Mr. Sparks, the American historian, " as not 
only a very curious and interesting piece of biography, but a valuable contribution to the history of 
the country during the important period of the revolution." 



12 History^ Biography^ <^c, 

GUIZOT^S HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION. 

General History of Civilization in Europe, from the Fall of the Roman Empire to 
the French Revolution. Translated from the French of M, Guizot, Professor of 
History to la Faculte des Lettres of Paris, and IMlnister of Public Instruction. TJiird 
American edition, with Explanatory Notes, (adapted for the use of Colleges and 
High Schools,) by C. S. Henry, D.D., Professor of Philosopliy and History in th« 
University of the city of New- York. One handsomely printed vol., 12mo, ^1 00. 

•*' We hail with pleasure the republication of this able work. It is terse and full, and adverts *.otbo 
most interesting topic in the social relations of mankind, the progressive improvement of the European 
nations from the overthrow of the Roman Empire by the Goths, and Huns, and Valtdals, in the Fifth 
Century. 

" The work of M. Guizot comprehends a Course of Lectures which he delivered, and which con* 
tain the spirit of Modern History, all condensed into a focus, to illuminate one most impressive fea- 
ture in the annals of the world. A concise view of the chief themes will accurately unfold the ina* 
portance of this volume. 

•* The introductory lecture is devoted to a discussion of the general subject in its principles ; which 
is followed by the application of them to the condition of European Society. 

" M. Guizot ne?;t proceeds to develop the deranged state of the kingdoms of Europe, after tha 
subversion of the Roman power, and the subdivision of the ancient empire into distinct sovereignties ; 
which is followed by a survey of the feudal system. The various changes and civil revolutions of the 
people with the crusades, the conflicts between the hierarchical supremacy, and the monarchical and 
aristocratical authorities also, are developed with the fluctuations of society, through their combined 
tumultuous collisions ; until the invention of printing, and the maritime discoveries of the fifteenth 
century, with the Reformation, produced a convulsion, whose mighty workings still are exhibited, and 
the rich fruits of which constantly become more plentiful and fragrant. 

" The two lectures which close the series, are devoted to the English revolution of the seventeenth^ 
and the French revolution of the eighteenth century. 

" There are two features in M. Guizot's lectures which are as attractive as they are novel. One 
is, the lofty moral and religious principles which he inculcates. We doubt that very few professors ot 
history in our own country, in their prelections, among their students, within an American College, 
•would have commingled such a continuous stream of the best ethics, -with a subject avowedly secular, 
as M. Guizot has incorporated with his lectures addressed to the Parisian infidels. 

" Another is, the predominant influence which he has attributed to Christianity, in effecting the 
progressive melioration of European society. 

" To the friends of religious freedom especially, M. Guizot's Lectures on Civilization are a most 
acceptable present ; because they are not the result of a controvertist's endeavours to sustain his own 
opinions in a polemical conflict with an adversary, but the deliberate judgment of an impartial ob- 
server, who has embodied his decisions incidentally, while discussing another topic." — N. Y. American. 

SCHLEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY. 

The Philosophy of History, in a course of Lectures deUvered at Vienna, by Frederick 

von Sclilegel, translated from the German, with a Memoir of the Author, by J. B. 

Robertson. Handsomely printed on fine paper. 2 vols. 12mo. ^2 50. 

"I'f there be cue book not professedly religious which we could have wished republished rather thaa 
another, it is Frederick Schlegel's immortal work. No other work of the kind, we venture to say, 
jb calculated to etfect so much good among the reflecting and intellectual portion of the American 
public, — with that portion capable of appreciating the pure and elevated wisdom of the ' Philosophy of 
History.' We do not at present intend to enter into anything like a detailed review ; it is quite un- 
necessary to do more than direct attention to a work which, beyond all others, has contributed to eialt 
and purify modern Science and Literature. This it was which showed the world of the nineteenth 
century how the great scheme of history should be viewed, — on man and his relations with the exter- 
nal world, — on human science and human art, refining and purifying them to the highest point ot 
earthly excellence." — Truth Teller. 

THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

Edited by his son, John C. Hamilton. 2 vols. 8vo. $5 00. 

•* We cordially recommend the perusal and d'ihgent study of these volumes, exhibiting, as they do, 
much valuable matter relative to the Revolution, the establishment of the Federal Constitution, aad 
other important events in the aanals of our cuuntiy."— New- York Review. 



History, Biography, Poetry, <^^c. 13 

PICTORIAL LIFE OF NAPOLEON. 

History of Napoleon Bonaparte, translated from the French of M. Laurent de L'Ar 
deche, with five hundred spuited illustrations, after designs by Horace Vernet, and 
twenty original portraits engraved in the best style. Complete in two handsome 
volumes, octavo, about 500 pages each, ^l 00. 

This Life of Napoleon, which is now offered to the public, is composeo irom the same orig^inal 
authorities as those consulted by previous historians and biographers ; with the assistance, als'o, of 
the substantive works of the latter, and of all important works since published, or now in course of 
publication. From careful abstracts and references, from a dispassionate balancing of the single and 
collective facts, statements, opinions and conjectural probabilities, occasionally found in direct opposi- 
tion among authorities of equal influence and validity, the author has sought to attain a fixed equi- 
librium of general truth. It has not been attempted to give a History of France in the stormy 
time of the Revolution, or in the successive periods of the Directory, the Consulate, or the Empire 
The violent feelings of the English public having now passed away, aperiod has already commenced for 
the exercise of a temperate judgment. The authorhas also endeavoured not to forestall time, broach 
theories, or dispense censure or praise. The deep-searching and far-spreading investigations, into 
which an attempt to form an opinion concerning the consequences and results of his actions would lead, 
could not be undertaken without a comprehensive study and voluminous exposition of the moral and 
political world and its various mutations ; they consequently form no part of the present design. 

All the leading journals have spoken in the most unqualified praise of this work. The following 
ie from the Boston Traveller : 

" As a chaste, condensed, faithful, and accurate memoir of the Great Captain, it is worthy of 
much attention. The author has mainly drawn the necessarj^ facts of his history from the letters, 
speeches, manifestoes, bulletins, and other state papers of Napoleon, and has given a considerable 
number of these m his text. The work, in this respect, is not unlike the design of many memoirs of 
less distinguished individuals, who are made to tell their own story by means of private letters and 
journals. There is a piquancy and force about this manner of composing details, that cannot be ob- 
tained in any other way. No man could give so good an account of the wonderful exploits of Napoleon 
as the victor himself ; and his language is often not less comprehensive, forcible, and sublime than 
his achievements astonishing and vast. Scott pretended to find in them bombast ; but the same sen- 
tences which he condemned, and which might perhaps seem warm, glowing, and often exaggerated, 
to a cold and northern fancy, sent a thrill through all the millions of France, and aroused that terri- 
ble valour which bore the eagle of victory triumphant over a hundred battle-fields, and placed it at 
last on the towers of the Kremlin to be torn and broken by the northern tempest. 

The work is superior to the long verbose productions of Scott and Bourienne — not in style alone, but 
in truth — ^being written to please neither Charles X. nor the English aristocracy — but for the cause of 
freedom. It has advantages over every other memoir extant." 

SOUTHEY^S POETICAL WORKS. 

The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Sout^ey, Esq., LL.D. The ten volume 
London edition in one elegant royal 8vo. volume, with a fine portrait and vignette. 
^3 50. 

*^L* This edition, which the author has arranged and revised with the same care as if it were in- 
tended for posthumous publication, includes many pieces which either have never before been collected, 
or have hitherto remained unpublished. 

Preliminary notices are affixed to the long poems, — the whole of the notes retained, — and such 
udditional ones incorporated as the author, since the first publication, has seen occasion to insert. 

Contents. 
Joan of Arc. The Curse of Kehama. 

Juvenile and Minor Poems. Roderick the last of the Goths. 

Thalaba the Destroyer. The Poet's Pilgrimage to Waterloo. 

Madoc. Lay of the Laureate, 

Ballads and Metrical Tales Vision of Judgment, &c. 

" Atthe ageof Biity-three Ihav« undertaken to collect and edit my poeticil works, with the last corrections that 1 can expect 
to bestow upon them. They have obtained a reputation equal to my wiEhea. .... Thus to collect and revise them i« a iluty whio^ 
1 ewe to that part of the public by whom they have been auspiciously received, and to those who will take a lively concern iu a\f 
good name when 1 shall liave departed. ''—Extract from Author's Preface. 

" The critic ha« little to do but to point out the existence of the work, the beauty of the type and embellishments, and the 

cheapness of the cost ; the public has long ago acknowledged its merit and established its reputation The author of the 

* Lite of Nelson' must live as long as our history and language endure. There is no man to whom llie latter owes a greater obli- 
gation—no man who has done more for literature by his genius, his labours, and his life." — Times. 

" We are very glad to see the works of a poet, for whom we have always felt the warmest admiration, collected , and in a »hadl 
which will ensure their popularity."— .<4j/ieni2u7n. . . mi • 

" Southey 's principal poetical works have been long before the world, extensively read and highly appreciated. Their appeajr- 
«nc« in a neat and uniform edition, with the final corrections of the author, will afford unfeigned pleasure to those who are 
' married to immortal verse.'" — Literary Gazelle. 

" The beauties of Mr. Southey'a poetry are such that this edition can hardly fail to find a place in the ubraij (if every maa 
food of elegant literature. "—£cieciic Jievievs.. 



14 History, Biography, Poetry, <^c. 

CABINET EDITION OF THE POETS. 

ELEGANTLY PRINTED, UNIFORM IN SIZE AND STYLE. 

The most complete portable series of these well known authoer ever published. 



COWPER'S COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS. 

The complete Poetical Works of Wm. Cowper, Esq., including the Hymns and 
Translations from Mad. Guion, Milton, &c., and Adam, a Sacred Drama, from the 
Italian of Battista Andreini, with a Memoir of the Author, by the Rev. Henry 
Stebbing, A.M. One elegantly printed volume 800 pages, 16mo. with* Deautifol 

frontispiece. $1 50. 

This is the only complete edition which is printed in one volume. 

Morality never found in genius a more devoted advocate than Cowper, nor has moral wisdom, ia 
its plain and severe precepts, been ever more successfully combined with the delicate spirit of poetry, 
than in his works. He Mas endowed with all the powers which a poet could want who was to be 
the moralist of the world — the reprover, but not the satirist, of men — the teacher of simple trutbi, 
which were to be rendered gracious without endangering their simplicity. 

BURNS' COMPLETE POETICAL NA^ORKS. 

The complete Poetical Works of Robert Bums, with Explanatory and Glossari^ 

Notes, and a Life of the Author, by James Ciu-rie, M.D., uniform in style with 

Cowper. $1 25. 

This is the most complete edition which has been published, and contains the whole of the poetry 
comprised in the edition lately edited by Cunningham, as well as some additional pieces ; and such 
notes have been added as are calculated to illustrate the manners and customs of Scotland, so sis to 
render the whole more intelligible to the English reader. 

" He owes nothing to the poetry of other lands — he is the offspring of the soil ; he is as natural to 
Scotland as the heath is to her hills — his variety is equal to his originality ; his humour, his gaietjt, 
hi.s tenderness and his pathos, coma all in a lireath ; they come freely, for they come of their own 
accord ; the contrast is never offensive ; the comic slides easily into the serious, the serious into th« 
tender, and the tender into the pathetic." — Allan Cunningham. 

" No poet, with the exception of Shakspeare, ever possessed the power of exciting the most varied 
and discordant emotions with such rapid transitions." — Sir W. Scott. 

MILTON'S COMPLETE POETICAL NA^ORKS. 

The complete Poetical Works of John Milton, with Explanatory Notes and a Life of 
the Author, by the Rev. Henry Stebbing, A.M. Beautifully Illustrated — uniform 
in style with Cowper, Burns, and Scott. 

The Latin and Italian Poems are included in this edition. 
Mr. Stebbing's notes will be found very useful in elucidating the learned allusions with whiofei 

tbe text abounds, and they are also valuable for the correct appreciation with which the writer directs 

attention to the beauties of the Author. 

SCOTT'S POETICAL XA^ORKS. 

The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. — Containing Lay of the Last Min- 
strel, Marmion, Lady of the Lake, Don Roderick, Rokeby, Ballads, Lyrics, and 
Songs, with a Life of the Autlior, uniform with Cowper, Bums, &,c. 

*• Walter Scott is the most popular of all the poets of the present day and deservedly so. He de- 
scribes that which is most easily and generally understood with more vivacity and effect than aay 
•ther writer. His style is clear, flowing and transparent ; his sentiments, of which his style is an 
easy and natural medium, are common to him with his readers. lie selects a story such as is sure to 
please, full of incidents, characters, peculiar names, costume a)id scenery, and he tells it in away tha* 
can offend no one. He never wearies or disappoints you. Mr. Scott has great intuitive power at 
feeling, great vividness of pencil in placing external objects and events bef )re the eve. What rassea 
ia. his poetry passes much as it would have done iu realitv " — Hazlit* 



History, Biography, Poetry, Travels^ Voyages^ <^c, 15 
THE AMER8CAN IN EGYPTj 

WITH RAMBLES THROUGH 

Arabia-Petraja and the Ifoly Land, during the years 1839--40. 

BY JAMEs'eWING COO LEY. 

flllustrated with numerous Steel Engravings, also Etchings and Designs by Johnston, — one 

handsome volume octavo of 610 pages. Price $2 50. 

No other volume extant can give the reader so true a picture of what he would be likely to see 
*nd meet in Eiifypt. Nu other book is more practical and plain in its picture of precisely what the 
traveller himself will meet. Other writers have one account to ^ive of their journey onpaper, and 
another to relate in conversation. Mr. Cooley has but one story for the fireside circle and the printed 
pace. — Brother Jonathan. 

VVe have read the greater part of this work and are much gratified with the novelty, raciness and 
easy — .vet dashing style with which it is written. Among the incidental sketches, the story of Neddy 
Daaod, a kind-hearted but poor American who could not subdue his inclination for travel in foreign 
parts-^-is beautifully told. Tlie entire episode is full of nature, feeling and pathos. Indeed the pecu- 
liar claim of the writing consists in its being the evident portraiture of fresh and vivid impression which 
it leaves upon the reader, that he soon unconsciously finds himself as it were one of the travelling party." 
— Philadelphia Enquirer. 

We do not hesitate to pronounce it the most interesting work on Egj'pt that we have ever met with. 
Mr. Cooley seems to have struck out in an entirely new path and pursued it successfully. Imbued 
with a rich vein of humour, and possessed of keen satirical powers, an American at heart, and not at 
all intimidated by success, there is a freshness of style and easy familiarity of manner and astern ii>- 
dependence in his writing which cannot fail to please as well as to instruct. — Brooklyn Eagle. 

It is really une of the most curious and interesting books that has made its appearance for some 
time. — N. Y. Courier c^- Enquirer. 

Of all the volumes on Egypt that have yet appeared, this work of Mr. Cooley's is by far thfr most 
attractive. The author has given the most graphic and amusing picture of life in Egypt, as it pre- 
sents itself to the American traveller. — Baltimore Patriot. 

TOUR THROUGH TURKEY AND PERSIA. 

Narrative of a Tour througla Armenia, Kurdistan, Persia, and Mesopotamia, with an 
Introduction and Occasional Observations upon the Condition of Mohammedanism 
and Christianity in those countries. By the Rev. Horatio Southgate, Missionary 
of the American Episcopal Church. 2 vols. 12mo., plates. ^2 50. 
An exceedingly interesting book of Travels, which no reader will be very likely to lay hy for good 
till he has seen the end of it. It contains a vast amount of information, religious and general, and i« 
>snritten in a style of perfect ease and simplicity. It deserves, and we doubt not will gain, an exten- 
sive circulation. — Albany Advertiser. 

SCOTLAND AND THE SCOTCH; 

OR THE -^ATESTERN OIROUIT. 

By Catharine Sinclair, author of Modern Accomplishments, Modem Society, &lc. «&c. 

1 vol. 12mo. 80 75. 

SHETLAND AND THE SHETLANDERS; 

OR THE NORTHERN OIROUIT. 

By Catharine Sinclair, author of Scotland and the Scotch, Holiday House, &c. &e. 

1 vol. 12mo. $0 87 i 

Miss Sinclair has already proved herself to be a lady of high talent and rich cultivated mind. She 
thinks with precision and vigor, and she possesses the quality of seizing the objects of her thoughts m 
the right place and at the proper time, and of presenting them to the mind's eye of her readers, in the 
most clear and captivating light. Her style is characteristic of her mind, transparent, piquant, and 
lively, yet sustained by pure, moral and religious feeling. — New-York American. 

THE FLAG SHIPj 

OR A VOYAG-E ROUND THE WORLD, 
Ib the United States Frigate Columbia, attended by her consort, the Sloop of War John Adams, and 

bearing the broad pennant of Commodore George C. Read. By Fitch W. Taylor, Chaplain to tho 

Squadron. 2 vols. 12mo., plates. $2 50. 

This work lias been sometime before the public ; but if in consequence of our late notice, it shall afford to any reader theTerjr 
great pleasure and profit which its perusal has given ug, we are sure he will think it better late than never. The records ef« 
■voyage round the world, made by a man, who, in mingling with the various and wonderful scenes it must present, has had Ml 
eves open, could not fail to be inleresdng. Facts and real occurrences, are things of which we never grow weaiy. But thii 
work hasa far higher ^laim to regard. Its literary character is certainly very respectable, and the benevolent spirit and Christiom 
interest with which ine varied incidents of a visit to almost every nation on the globe were regarded, give the book an unwonted 
■value. The ability to survey the moral aspects (if the world, is a qualification of which the far greater part of travellers ai'e utterly 
deficient. Probably since the valuable journal of Tyermar, and Bennett, there has been no other one published which exhibia 
•o satisfactory a view of the Christian missions of the world as this. We think it adapted to interest its readers not only, but greatly 
la instruct them,*and especially to awzJien a deep and livrly sympathy for tU« moral wants and uaisenes of tbe worli. — EvameUat, 



16 History, Biography, Poetry, Voyages, Travels, <^c. 
THE BOOK OF THE NAVY; 

Comprising a general History of the American Marine, and particular accounts of aH 
the most celebrated Naval Battles, from the Declaration of Independence to the 
present time, compiled from the best authorities. By John Frost, Professor of 
Belles Lettres in the High School of Philadelphia. With an Appendix containing 
Naval Songs, Anecdotes, &c. EmbeUished with numerous original Engravings 
and Portraits of distinguished Naval Commanders. Complete in one handsome 
volume octavo. 81 50. 

This work has been written with a particular vievv to popular entertainment and instruction. Tore 
mind the people that the Navy is the right arm of the national defence ; to recall the glorious actions by 
which the independence of the country was asserted in the days that tried men's souls ; to revive the re- 
collection of those brilliant exploits on the ocean in that war with France of which the battle cry was 
^Millions for defence, but not a cent for tribute ;'^ to display those gallant achievements in defence of 
" Free Trade and Sailors' Rights," which taught Britain that she could no longer claim the sovereignty of 
the seas ; and to exhibit those deeds of gallantry by which the barbarian Tripolitans and Algerines were 
taught to respect the Star-Spangled Banner ; to render the whole of this brilliant history familiar to the 
recollections of the people as household words, is the end and aim of the BOOK OF THE NAVY. 

Fully sensible that delineation is more effective than mere description and narrative, the author has 
embellished the work with forty-eight splendid Illustrations, representing the most celebrated Naval 
Actions, Portraits of distinguished Commmanders, naval scenes, and exploits of every description. 

The object being to increase the popularity of the Navy by widely diffusing the knowledge of its glo- 
rious history in all parts of the country, and among all classes of people, it is afforded at an exceed- 
ingly low price, for the purpose of placing it in the hands of the PEOPLE. 

" This is the only popular and yet authentic single view which we have of the naval exploits of out 
country arranged with good taste and set forth in good language." — U. S. Gazette. 

" This is just such a work as has long been wanted — a history of the Navy sufficiently condensed for 
popular use. ' Mr. Frost has performed his task in the best manner and has produced precisely the book 
that was desired." — Pennsylvanian. 

" It is by no means so tedious and minute as Cooper's Naral History, and is at the same time written 
in a style every way equal to that work." — N. Y. Aurora. 

" It is a faithful account of the origin and progress of the American Navy, of its exploits, and of the 
character of those who have done it honour. There are fine portraits of Perry, Decatur, and M'Don- 
ough, and very splendid engravings at the commencement and close of each chapter." — N. Y. Cour ^ Enq. 
- " The literary portion of the work is a faithful record of those glorious naval exploits which have ren- 
dered our flag honoured and respected by every nation of the globe, while the style in which it is got 
tip and its splendid embellishments confer the highest credit on the publishers." — Boston Times. 

" This elegant volume is dedicated to the present Secretary of the Navy and is altogether a 
very faithful and attractive historical record. It comprises twenty-two chapters, detailing the pron»- 
nent events connected with the naval history of the American federal repjjblic. To the narrative is 
subjoined an appendix of seventy pages including thirty-two very interesting characteristic anecdotes, 
nineteen lyrical poems, and a minute chronological table of events in American Naval History. It is 
appropriately adorned with steel engraved portraits, numerous vignettes, and full page representations 
of various conflicts. The Book of the Na'/y deserves, and will doubtless, have a very extended airca- 
lation." — National Intelligencer. 

INCIDENTS OF A N/VHALING VOYAGE. 

To which is added Observations on the Scenery, Manners, and Customs, and Mis- 
sionary Stations of the Sandwich and Society Islands, accompanied by numerous 
plates. By Francis AUyn Olmsted. One handsome volume, 12mo. $1 50. 

The various publications before the public, illustrating our marine and naval history, have neve», 
we belisve, as yet entered into the minutiie of a whuling voyage — a whale ship, its equipments, dis- 
cipline, and course of operations in the internal economy and varied contingencies, — until the appeaf- 
ance of the present volume, by one who has some pretensions to science, both in the philosophy of na- 
ture and education. The work indeed only presents the events of a single voyage, but is blended with 
somuchof incidental history, abounding in facts relative to the Islands of the Pacific, the Missionary 
stations there, and the effects of civilization upon the untutored natives of the South, together with 
the illustrations of the whale fishery, as to embody a mass of intelligence, interesting to the ordinary 
reader as well as to the philosophical inquirer. The author is a son of Professor Olmsted, of Yal« 
College, who, in the pursuit of health, in along voyage, has noted the observations to which we refei 
"—N. Y. Uourier. 



18 Hydraulics^ Mechanics, Steam-Engine^ S^c. 

HYDRAULICS AND MECHANICS. 

A Descriptive and Historical Account of Hydraulic and other Machines for Raising Water, includinsr 
the Steam and Fire Engines, ancient and modern ; with Observations on various subjects connected 
with the Mechanic Arts ; including- the Progressive Development of the Steam Engine • Descrip- 
tions of every variety of Bellows, Piston, and Rotary Pumps, Fire Engines, Water Rams, Pressure 
Engines, Air Machines, Eolipiles, &c. Remarks on Ancient Wells, Air Beds, Cog Wheels, Blow- 
pipes, Bellows of various People, Magic Goblets, Steam Idols, and other Machinery of Ancient Tem- 
ples. To which are added Experiments on Blowing and Spouting Tubes, and other original De- 
vices, Nature's modes and Machinery for Raising Water. Historical notices respecting Siphons, 
Fountains, Water Oiijans, Clopsydrte, Pipes, Valves, Cocks, &c. In five books. Illustrated by 
nearly three hundreciEngravings. By Thomas Ewbank. One handsomely printed volume of 
six hundred pages. ' $3 50. 

Althoug^h the subject of tliis work may present nothing alluring to the peneral reader, it will be found not destitute of 
interest to the philosopher and intelligent mechanic. The art of raising water has erer been closely connected with th« 
progress of man in civilization, so much so, indeed, that the state of this art among a people may be taken as an index of 
their position on the scale of refinement. It is also an art, which, from its importance, called forth the ingenuity of maD 
in the infancy of society, nor is it improbable that it originated some of the simple machines of mechanic powers tbem- 
seives. 

It was a favotirite subject of research with eminent mathematicians and engmeers of old, and the labour of their suc- 
cessors in modern days, hare been rewarded with the most valuable machine which the arts ever presented to man, the 
STEAM ENGINE, for it was " raising of water," that exercised the ingenuity of Decatus and Worcester, Morland and 
Papin, Savary and Newcomen, and those illustrious men whose successive labours developed and matured thai 
•' semi-omiiii)otent engine," which " draweth up water by fire." A machine that has already changed and immeasura- 
bly irsproveil the state ofcivil society, and one which, in conjunction with the printing press, is destined to renovate both 
the political and the moral world. The subject is therefore intimately connected with the present advanced state of the 
arts ; and the amazing progress made in them during the last two centuries may be attributed in some degree to its culti- 
TRtion. — ' — Vide Preface. 

" This work of Mr. Ewbank seems to bfi something new in its design, which is effected with wonderful ability ana saccess 
It could only have been written by one, a large portion of whose life had been spent in searching the dusty volumes of an- 
tiquity, and who possessed besides an ardent enthnsiasm in the cause of science and mechanic improvement. We havg 
uot time to give anything like a general summary of its contents. Ittrac-« the history of machinery of all sorts from the 
Tery earliest dawn of its invention — exploring wi'th the most ceaseless assiduity the records of antiquity, and cross exam- 
ining their traditions, customs, &c. with consummate skill, intermingling the whole with the most emertaininj: sketches 
of life and character and the most just and instructive reflections upon the features of society and ordinary life, which are 
indicated by the habits thus brought to light. The work is divided into five books, of which the general subjects are as 
follows: 1. 'Primitive and Ancient Devices for Raising Water : 2. Machines for Raising Water by the Pressure of the 
Atmosphere: 3. Machines for Raising Water by Compressure independently of Atmospheric influence : 4. Machines for 
Raising Water, chiefly of Modern Origin, including early modern applications of steam for that purpose : 5. Novel De- 
riees for Raising Water, with an account of syphons, locks, valves, clopsydis, &.C. It is illustrated by nearly 300 line en- 
fraviiigs, and is published in the finest style of the typographic art. — Tribune.'''' 

" This is a highly valuable production, replete with novelty and interest, and adapted to gratify equally the historian, 
the philosopher and the mechanician, being the result of a protracted and extensive research among the arcana ofhistori- 
al and scientific literature." — National Intelligeneer. 

HODGE ON THE STEAM-ENGINE. i 

The Steam Engine, its Origin and Gradual Improvement, from the time of Hero to the present day, 
as adapted to Manufactures, Locomotion and Navigation. Illustrated with forty-eight plates in full 
detail, numerous wood cuts, &c. by Paul R. Hodge, C.E. 1 vol. folio of plates, and letter-press in 
8vo. $12 00. 

" The letter-press volume furnishes a comprehensive history of the invention and the various im- 
provements which have been made in the steam-engine, from the earliest period to the present time, 
together with such practical rules and explanations as are necessary to enable the mechanic to design 
and construct a machine of any required power, and of the most improved form, for any of the numer- 
ous applications of steam. For the purpose of rendering the reference from the letter-press to the 
I^ates more convenient, the engraved illustrations are published in a separate volume, in the folio 
{ana. These plates are all drawn to certain scales, and the dimensions of every part may be taken, 
aad machines built from any of the designs. 

" The most recent and approved engines of their respective classes appear to have been selected, 
and, with four exceptions only, are all of American construction and arrangement. The volume of 
plates, as a worlc of the art of drawing, forms one of the most splendid specimens that has ever fallen 
under our observation. Mr. Hodge, the author of this truly practical and valuable work, is, it will be 
recollected, the inventor of the steam fire-engine, the utility of which, in extinguishing fires, has been 
fully tested." — Courier <^ Enquirer. 

LAFEVERS MODERN ARCHITECTURE. 

Beauties of Modem Architecture: consisting of forty-eight plates of Original Designs, with Plana, 
Elevations and Sections, also a Dictionary of Technical Terms ; the whole forming a complete 
Manual for the Practical Builder. By M. Lafever, Architect. 1 vol. large 8vo. half bound. $6 00 

LAFEVER'S STAIR-CASE AND HAND-RAIL CONSTRUCTlbN. 

The Modern Practice of Stair-case and Hand-rail Construction, practically explained, in a series ef 
Designs. By M. Lafever, Architect. With Plans and Elevations for Ornamental Villas. Fifte«» 
Plates. I vol. large 8vo. $3 00. 
The works of Lafever are pronounced by the practical man to be the most useful ever publislierf. 



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